One day an old man was walking down the beach just before dawn. In the distance he saw a young man picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea. As the old man approached the young man, he asked, “Why do you spend so much energy doing what seems to be a waste of time?” The young man explained that the stranded starfish would die if left in the morning sun. The old man exclaimed, “But there must be thousands of starfish. How can your efforts make any difference?” The young man looked down at the starfish in his hand and as he threw it to safety in the sea, he said, “It makes a difference to this one!”
At times in our lives, we have all been the old man, the young man, or the starfish.
Sometimes, as the old man, we don’t see the purpose to actions. We are so focused on what appears to be the futility of the situation or the seemingly massive obstacles we face that we don’t even look at the possibilities of what we could do and instead only see what we can’t. Just imagine what a difference could have been made if the old man had joined in and helped the young man in saving the starfish. They could have even started a movement where everyone on the beach that day joined in and helped. As a team, they might have saved every one.
Sometimes we are the starfish who just needs a little help. Wouldn’t you hope there was someone out there who was willing to take the time to save you?
And sometimes we are in the role of the young man; we persevere and make a difference. We often face the ridicule of others or the unintended discouraging comments of those who like to tell us that they’ve tried this before and it didn’t work or give us all the countless reasons this is a waste of time. Even if it is only one starfish, when we stay the course, we make a difference, and maybe next time the nay-sayers will join us instead of standing by and watching. If we want to make a change, we must embody that change first.
Saving starfish doesn’t usually require big actions. Just spending time and genuinely caring about people is really all you need to do. You have likely saved hundreds of starfish in your life, and never even realized it. So who will be your starfish today?
Submitted by Lorie Vega, Secretary
Ellsworth AFB 28th Force Squadron