The Starfish Thrower
Once upon a time there was a man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along the shore.
As he looked down the beach
he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think of someone
who would dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw that it was an
older man and the man wasn't dancing.
Instead he was reaching down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The older man paused, looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish into the ocean."
The man noticed that there were hundreds of starfish
all washed up on the beach from a storm the night before.
He watched as the man carefully
continued to pick up the starfish
one by one.
"I guess I should have asked,
'Why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?'"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
If I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But don't you realize
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The older man listened politely.
He bent down, picked up another starfish
He looked at the starfish
as he prepared to throw it into the ocean,
past the breaking waves and said –
"I will make a differenceto this one!"
--Adriana Cassani
