Starfish

One of the taglines I like to tout about volunteerism is “One person can start a movement.  Let the movement start with you”.  I think too often we lose sight of the potential impact one person can have.  More than this, we lose sight of the bigger picture – if we are ALL doing good things (even small acts of kindness) we can affect great change.  One of my favorite stories to illustrate this is “The Star Thrower”.  Read on and be inspired to do your part today…

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,

“Well, I made a difference to that one!”

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved.

adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley

Seek Happiness,

Jesse Ladoue
Miss International 2013