Wednesday, June 29, 2011

The Starfish Story



Once upon a time, there was a wise old man,
who went to the sea to contemplate.

One day, while walking along the shore,
the wise old man looked down the beach,
and saw a gracefully dancing human figure.
The wise old man wondered out loud,

"Who would be dancing all alone on the beach?”

He began to walk faster to catch up.
Getting closer, the wise man saw that the dancer
was a child, who was not dancing at all.
The child was reaching down to the sand to pick up
something, and was very gently throwing it into the sea.
The man called out to the child,

“Good Morning! What are you doing?”

The child paused, looked up and replied,

“Throwing Starfish into the sea.”

Surprised, the man said,

“Yes, I see that, but WHY are you throwing Starfish into the sea?”

The child smiled brightly, pointed upward and
with perfect simplicity replied,

“The sun is up, and the tide is going out.
If I don’t throw them in, they will die.”

“But, don’t you realize, “asked the man,
“that there are miles and miles of beach and Starfish all along it?
You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The child listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another Starfish,
threw it gently into the sea, just beyond the breaking waves,
and joyfully declared,

“It made a difference for that one.”


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