Monday, July 21, 2008

The Little Boy and the Starfish

One fine warm day, an old man was walking down a sandy, tropical beach. He noticed as he was walking that the tide had brought in a lot of starfish. He started looking at the starfish and admiring their pretty colors as he walked.

He noticed a little boy in the distance was walking towards him, but at a very slow pace.

The reason for the slow pace of the little boy became apparent the closer the old man came. The little boy was also looking at the starfish, but he was doing more. He was picking up those he found and throwing them back out to sea.

"Why are you throwing the starfish back into the sea?" asked the old man. "Starfish die if they're out of their sea water for too long." replied the little boy.

Ever the practical man, he said, "It's a good thing to do, but do you know how many starfish there must be washed up on this beach every day? You can't possibly make a dent in that. What difference can you make in an effort to save starfish?"

The little boy bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it out into the sea, turned towards the old man, and said, "It made a difference to that one."

I challenge you to find a way to make a difference.

3 comments:

ryran said...

Mmmm. The old man's attitude is a pretty natural one. I've found myself falling into that view at times in life when I'm feeling hopeless.. even though I know I'm gonna keep trying. (Makes me think of recycling, for one.)

There are other things though that I don't even try to mess with. Hmmm. Thanks for the illustration.

Anonymous said...

Make a difference. Vote in November.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for that! I know that story and couldn't find it anywhere. (I'm giving a speech and wanted to use this story) I googled it and your blog came up. Thanks!
-Serena from Tennessee