The Pond

Put into your head, for one second, the vision of a pond.
One second, and one second only.
Why one second?
Because this second, and this pond, link together all of humanity.
Your vision of the pond will most likely be completely different from my vision of the pond, and mine from that of another.
Some will envision a pristine glade in the center of an evergreen woodland.
Some will picture a murky, swamp-like puddle in a wilderness corrupted by the eternally spinning turnstiles of industry.
Some will cast their imaginations upon an exotic, refreshing oasis surrounded by an African dune.
Some will simply remember back to their youth, when their grandparents would take them skating on that sheet of ice in the center of town.
Now that you have the image of your pond firmly in your head -- forget it. The pond is not what matters.
Remember only the water, the essence of the pond, which allowed it to be.
For no matter how different any two ponds may be, they are fundamentally the same.
Every pond has water.