THE STARFISH STORY

Every day, every hour, every action, no matter how small, can make a difference. We all can solve, or help to solve, the most complex problems one good deed at a time. If we all contribute, one good deed after another will eventually make a pile. That’s how we can tackle all the social, economic, environmental, etc. problems. There is not a better way to illustrate this than with the starfish story.

One day, an old man was walking along a beach that was littered with thousands and thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked, he came upon a young boy who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one.

Puzzled, the man looked at the boy and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, “throwing starfish back into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the young boy replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.” The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a big difference to that one!”

The fact is that regardless of the complexity of the problem, each of us have the power to make a difference. We think that complex problems require complex solutions; that these types of problems require people of the caliber of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, etc., and we are not them; that these are problems for governments, the United Nations, or other large institutions created to address these types of issues; and/or that we do not have enough power, money, or influence to make a difference. But in truth, all we need is to bend over, grab a starfish and throw it into the ocean.

Mother Theresa said, “It is not what to do, but how much love we put into the doing. We can do not greats, only small things with great love." If we were to take responsibility for everything and realize (wake up and step out of our comfortable way of living and thinking) that everything is one mind, one energy, one consciousness; and that by doing harm to anything, we are doing harm to ourselves; each of us could make a great difference in the world. But for that, we have to stop working for “me and mine” and start doing it for “us and ours.”

It is not about one dollar more, or the bottom line, or just results ignoring the consequences, or...; it is about caring, about realizing we cannot continue in the direction we are going, and about taking a stand. Each of us can change the world – maybe not all at once, but one person, one animal, and one thought, word and/or deed at a time. It is just a matter of a simple decision. Wake up every morning and think that everything that you do makes a difference, because IT DOES!

Author: Maurice Correa
Website: pathtoone.com