"Starfish Story"

"A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved."

adapted from Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley

Response

Hey Steemit, recently I've come across the Starfish story. It made me think about the goals people have in life. I feel sometimes people may feel that their goals don't have meaning if it doesn't affect people on a large scale.

For example, lets say someone passionately had a business idea and wanted to start their business, but hesitated because it seemed too simple and the target market was too small.

Well, if you learned something from this story, is that its ok to have a niche product - you don't have to be the next Google , Facebook ,Nike , or next game changing startup that changes the world.

I also think on a personal level this Starfish story applies too. When you go through college you hear things such as, I want to make a difference in other people's lives...etcetera.

But I feel like after hearing the Starfish story, I feel that it is okay if you only affect one person's life - even if that person might be yourself - you have made a difference in someone's world.

So as we take on challenges we perceive as great, remember the Starfish story - you only have to affect one person's life to make a difference.

Regards,

@SupremeTaste

source: https://www.cityyear.org/about-us/culture-values/founding-stories/starfish-story