Have you ever heard the phrase, “I made a difference for the starfish”?
Here’s the story that includes this phrase:
Once upon a time, there was a wise man who went to his house by the ocean to write. Every day, before starting his work, this wise man would go for a walk by the ocean to gather energy. On one of his walks, he saw a human silhouette moving like a dancer on the beach.
As he approached the silhouette, he realized it was a young boy. And the young boy didn’t really look like he was dancing.
The wise man, seeing the young boy throwing things into the sea from the beach, said,
“Good morning, may I ask what you are doing?”
The boy paused for a moment and then replied,
“I am throwing starfish back into the ocean.”
The wise man asked, “Why are you throwing starfish back into the ocean?”
The young boy; “The sun has already risen and the waters are receding; if I don’t throw them back into the ocean, they will die,” he replies.
The wise man says, “Don’t you see the beach is very large and there are so many starfish? What you’re doing won’t change anything.”
After listening to the wise man, the young boy bends down, picks up another starfish from the ground, throws it into the ocean, and says, “See, it made a difference for this one.”
The wise man, astonished and speechless, goes to his hut and spends the whole night trying to understand the essence of the young man’s behavior.
The next day, as soon as he wakes up, he runs to the young man and spends the whole day throwing starfish into the ocean….
The Starfish story is a story about becoming individuals who realize the difference of making things happen, not just observing and judging, but actually doing them. It is up to you to choose not to be an observer in the universe, not to watch what is happening, but to be a player in the universe and make a difference…