STARFISH FABLE
The beach was filled with starfish. Big, small, young,
old, somehow they had gotten beached by the millions and were slowly dying on
the sand, under the hot sun. Onlookers stood their distance, shaking heads,
some crying, all feeling terrible sorry for all these poor starfish.
Suddenly, one of the bystanders pushed through the crowd
and jogged down to the beach, sloshing knee-deep in starfish. As quickly as he
could, one by one he started picking up starfish and tossing them back into the
ocean, where they happily swan back to the deep waters. Hours went by and
though the man had saved many, his efforts did not make a dent in the masses
dying on that beach.
As the sun went down a woman came up to the man. Sorrow
on her face, she touched his shoulder and said. "Excuse me, but you are
sunburned and exhausted. You have been working all day and you have made no
difference lowering these piles of starfish. Come inside as hard as you try,
you cannot make a difference here".
The man, meeting the woman's gaze, tossed one more starfish into the
ocean, who eagerly swam away into the cool evening waters. Then he said, "I made a difference to that Starfish".
The next time you feel helpless when you see all the
suffering and despair in the world, do not let it paralyze you into doing
nothing. Every starfish has a story and saving even one makes a hell of a
difference.
