SPARK OF IDEAS

This is where I deposit my spark of ideas as I reflect about life and work. I wish that they can help at least one person who is reading it, one at a time. 

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Once upon a time, there was an old man who had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a storm had passed and found the beach littered with starfish, stretching far along the shore.

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Off in the distance, the old man noticed a small boy approaching.  As the boy walked, he paused often and as he came closer, the man could see that he was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throwing it into the sea.  The man called out, “Good morning!  May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

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The young boy paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the sea. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the boy added. “They will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

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The old man replied, “But there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

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The boy bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the sea. Then he turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

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adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)