The Starfish
Posted by rain on June 24, 2009 at 11:34:16:
IP:96.243.146.153
The Starfish
By: Author Unknown
An old man awoke just before sunrise, as he often did, to
walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. As he moved
through the morning dawn, he focused on a faint, far away
motion.
He saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms,
dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the
perfect day soon to begin. As the old man approached, he
realized that the youth was not dancing to the bay, but
rather bending to sift through the debris left by the
night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up starfish,
and then standing up to heave it back into the sea.
He asked the youth the purpose of the effort. "The tide
has washed the starfish onto the beach, and they cannot
return to the sea by themselves," the youth replied. "When
the sun rises, they will die unless I throw them back into
the sea."
The old man surveyed the vast expanse of beach that
stretched in both directions beyond eyesight. Starfish
littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The
hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear, and the old
man said, "But young man, don't you realize that there are
more starfish on this beach than you could ever save before
the sun is up? You cannot possibly expect to make a
difference!"
The youth paused briefly to consider the old man's words.
He then bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it
as far as possible into the sea. Turning to the old man, he
said, "I made a difference to that one!"