The Starfish Story by Loren Eisley
A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean.
“Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” he asks.
“Because the sun is up, and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”
“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.”
The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and threw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”
I really like this story. Such a beautiful way of showing how one person can impact another soul in such a positive way.
Now I ask you to consider this. The average person has 472 contacts in their phone. If we view these as potential “star fish”, my question/ my challenge for you is this-
“Who could you reach out to TODAY?”
I hope this has been meaningful to you. If you would like to learn more about my new journey please check me out, https://masonvandyke.com/
As I travel this on-going personal path of reflection, I find it helpful, actually needed, that I talk with and learn from others. I would appreciate and love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts, Mason@masonvandyke.com
Leave a Reply