This only relates to testing if you are working on teams, with other people, or trying to attract people to your team for collaboration. I didn't come up with this saying. I saw it on a small rural city church sign 7 years ago, but recently have been wondering why it keeps coming to my mind and why during times of difficulty it resonates with me.

I'll start with the simplest reason that I've always identified with water in that it is unsurpassed in strength, flexibility, usefulness, and beauty.

I don't want to just be a fountain. I aspire to become this fountain, one of the most ambitious, lovely, appreciated, and well resourced fountains that does great good for the city of Rome:

1. Useful: A source of refreshement and vital life sustaining force. Also a source of comfort and fun.

2. Enduring and self-sustaining: Under many circumstances, when properly designed, fountains remain useful for hundreds of years.

3. Able to accept input of varied intensity and still output something beautiful, safe, and useful. This is a hard one for me. First off, you must be selective about where you get your input. If it is from somewhere unreliable or contaminated, you may stop the fountain's function. It's said that the original aqueduct of Rome's source was found by a virgin. When in doubt, get your input from the innocent, but built with experience.

4. To function well, fountains need to be cleaned and maintained and on occasion repaired and rebuilt. It is worth taking the time to do this so that they can serve the greater good.

5. The water is part of the beauty, but there is beauty even without the water. When the water isn't flowing, the potential for usefulness doesn't go away.

6. The outdoor fountain is fed by and in tune with nature. For the fountain to remain functional and useful, it can't be protected from the elements. It depends on the elements.