Word: pond
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Igor Petrovich has a good idea. He would like to import a small population of carp to eat the grass that has overgrown the pond. The pond is the pride and joy of Ranina, a resort community in the vast forested flatlands of eastern Belarus, and the grass has grown so thick that swimming and fishing have become difficult. The grass is a source of constant aggravation and conversation among residents who own properties along the water's edge. The homeowners agree that carp would be a simple, low-cost, environmentally friendly solution to the problem...
...ahead and buy some carp for the pond? Well, that would require a consensus on how much carp is needed, on how to pay for them, and on who should be entrusted to bring them to the village. And such consensus is hard to achieve in Ranina. In part, this is because communication is difficult - there is no Internet, and land lines are non-existent. But the problem goes much deeper...
...civic-mindedness required to, say, pool money to buy some carp to take care of the pond's grass, has not exactly taken root in this environment. The owners spend every spare minute of the summer working on their dachas, but have no enthusiasm for doing anything for the greater good. "It's not that people can't afford it," says a homeowner who gives her name only as Tanya, "it is that people do not believe that if they hand over some money, no matter how small, and no matter how positive the cause, that something will actually come...
...posted on the bus stop - to gather on a Saturday morning at the home of the chairman. Five people showed up. But their proposed solution to the potholed road - taking up a collection to fund repairs - will probably meet the same fate as Igor Petrovich's plans for the pond...
...travel and experience different places. And I could say the same for my life now in the U.S. Indeed, for the past two years I have fallen into that same trap at Cambridge, moaning about how the grass is greener on the other side of the pond...