Grand Forks Clams
One of the main reasons nothing gets done in this wonderful community of Grand Forks can be illustrated by a story I heard once: This boy went out clam digging. He dug for hours putting each clam carefully in his pail. Oh his arm ached from all the clams that he had found and dropped into the bucket. He decided he must have enough and so he hurried home to give them to his grandfather.
“Look grandpa” he said “Look at all the clams I found. I must a thousand of them”.
Grandpa leaned way over and looked into the pail and the saw that the bottom was barely covered; there might have been a half dozen.
“Oh no!” grandpa replied, “You were picking up Grand Forks clams.”
His grandson asked “What do you mean grandpa?” as he looked horrified into the almost empty pail. Grandpa said, “son, come here and sit down. You see Grand Forks clams don’t like to see anyone get ahead.” he continued, “They continually pull down the ones that are on the top so no one gets ahead.”
It seems every time someone comes out with an “idea” – be it good or not – everyone shows up at council with the intension to pull that person (and their idea) down to their level. I would like to see our vocal community get behind something and show support for it.
Some of these ideas have been Golden Heights, airboats, new garbage system, artisan faire, medical marijuana, community gardens, the lights on the alternative “transit” system (trail) just to name a few.
Let’s decide to look at the cup as half full instead of half empty; next time you hear of something happening, instead of looking at the negatives – find the positives in the idea – we might just get something done!
