One at a Time by Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen
A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he began to see a man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out ito the water. Time and again he kept hurling things out into the ocean.
As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.
Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, ‘Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you were doing.’
‘I’m throwing theses starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sae they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.’
‘I understand,’ my friend replied, ‘but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get all of them. There are simply too many. And you don’t realise this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?’
The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it into the sea, he replied, ‘Made a difference to that one!’
Taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul (1993) by J. Canfield and M. V. Hanse
As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.
Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, ‘Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you were doing.’
‘I’m throwing theses starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sae they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.’
‘I understand,’ my friend replied, ‘but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can’t possibly get all of them. There are simply too many. And you don’t realise this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?’
The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it into the sea, he replied, ‘Made a difference to that one!’
Taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul (1993) by J. Canfield and M. V. Hanse