The story of the Star Thrower is about how making a difference to one child can change the world…
The Story of the Star Thrower
I awoke early, as I often did, just before the sunrise, to walk by the ocean’s edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a child, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt, in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached, I sadly realized that the child was not dancing to the day, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night’s tide, stooping now and then to pick up a starfish, and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the child the purpose of the effort. “The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach; they cannot return by themselves,” the child replied. As the child explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach; stretching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth’s plan became clear to me and I countered, “But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.” The child paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish, and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me, the child simply said, “I made a difference to that one!”
Based on “The Star Thrower” By Loren Eisely
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