Once upon a time, while walking along a beach, an elderly wise man saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young boy, picking up starfish one by one and tossing each one gently back into the water.
Elderly wise man came closer still and called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”
The young boy paused, looked up and replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.”
The elderly wise man smiled and said, “I must ask then, why are you throwing starfish back into the ocean?”
To this, the young boy replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they will die.”
Upon hearing this, the elderly wise man commented, “But, young boy, do you not realise that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”
The young boy listened politely. Then he bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean past the breaking waves and said, “It made a difference for that one.”
We often think we are too insignificant or too unimportant to make a difference. We couldn’t be further from the truth. So, can I encourage you to take the time to do something that will make a difference to someone else’s life and it doesn’t have to be much and they don’t need to know. Just take a moment, do something special, the universe will know and that’s enough.
I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do something I can do. – Helen Keller
One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something. – Henry David Thoreau
