Not Every Time the Jug Makes It Through / Palestinian-Jordanian Dialect There was a young man named Raed who always liked to rely on luck to get things done. If he had an exam, he either wouldn’t study at all or would study carelessly and say: “It’ll probably be easy anyway.” And if he had work that needed to be submitted early, he’d leave it until the last minute and say: “What’s the rush? I’ve got plenty of time.” Even at work, he would make small mistakes and hide them instead of fixing them, saying: “Nobody’s going to notice.” And somehow, every time, he managed to get out of trouble one way or another. Once, he forgot to submit an important report, and by pure coincidence, the manager got busy and didn’t notice. Another time, he messed up a company file, and a coworker fixed it before anyone found out. And once, he arrived an hour late, but the electronic attendance system happened to be down, so his lateness was never recorded. Raed started feeling like he was lucky and that nobody could ever catch him making mistakes. He would tell his friends: “See? Things work themselves out. Why should I tire myself out?” His friend Hossam would always advise him: “Raed, luck might save you once or twice, but it won’t work every single time.” But Raed never listened. One day, he was assigned a major project at work, and as usual, he postponed it until the last day. When he finally started working on it, he discovered that he was missing important information. He tried to cover it up and work around the problem, thinking it would somehow work out like it always had before. But this time, it didn’t. The manager discovered the issue right before an important meeting. As a result, the company lost the deal. The manager called Raed into his office and asked: “Why didn’t you tell us from the beginning?” Raed didn’t know what to say. He had become so used to relying on luck instead of preparation and responsibility. After he left the office, Abu Sami, the oldest employee in the company, walked by and said: “Son, I’ve been watching you for a long time. I kept hoping you’d learn from your mistakes, but you never changed. Not every time the jug makes it through.” Raed fell silent. For the first time, he truly understood that a person might get away with something once, twice, or even three times—but when the same mistake keeps happening, sooner or later it catches up with them. From that day on, he started organizing his work ahead of time and relying more on effort than on luck. Meaning of the Proverb “Not every time the jug makes it through” is said when someone constantly depends on luck or keeps repeating the same mistake, believing they’ll get away with it every time. The proverb is a reminder that luck doesn’t last forever, and sooner or later mistakes are exposed and consequences appear.