"Learning
From The Old Man and The
Starfish..."
Dear
friend,
There is a story that I heard
long ago that I should tell you
about, too.
It may help change a life.
At
the first glimmer of light of
dawn, a young man walked at the
edge of the seashore. There had
been a storm the night before,
and he knew this would be a good
morning to find seashells. With
pants rolled up above his ankles,
he walked along looking for what
treasures he might find.
Then
the young man looked up and could
barely make out a figure of a
very old man ahead of him. The
young man watched as the old man
bent down to pick up an object
from the sand, and toss it into
the surf. As he got closer, and
the light of morning began to
turn the sand pink, he noticed
that the old man was picking up
starfish that had been tossed up
on the beach by the storm. There
were thousands of them, but one
by one the old man picked them
up, and tossed them back into the
surf. Nearing the old man the
young man introduced himself, and
said, "Excuse me, but there
are thousands of starfish
stranded here on the beach. You
can't possibly make a
difference."
The
old man smiled and looked at him,
then picked up another starfish.
He tossed it back in the sea.
“I certainly made a
difference to that one, didn't I,
son?"
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