Here’s a story written by Loren Eiseley:

Once upon a time, there was an old man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach every morning before he began his work. Early one day, he was walking along the shore after a big storm had passed and found the vast beach littered with starfish as far as the eye could see, stretching in both directions.

Off in the distance, the man noticed a small girl approaching. As the girl walked, he paused every so often and as he grew closer, the man could see that she was occasionally bending down to pick up an object and throw it into the sea. The girl came closer still and the man called out, “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young girl paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” the youth replied. “When the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be tens of thousands of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t really be able to make much of a difference.”

The girl bent down, picked up yet another starfish and threw it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she turned, smiled and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

Make a difference. American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to make some difference that you have lived and have lived well.”

Emerson also defined success. He wrote: “Success is to laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!”

In this world so full of danger, division, power and greed, I believe we need more starfish throwers than ever before. Instead of revenge against those we don’t like or blaming others for what we do wrong, we are in dire need of increasing the number of people who will possess integrity of their character to do what’s right and perform acts of kindness and empathy.

Ethical behavior need not be driven by a belief in God, but by an awareness of humanity. We are all in this thing we call life together and the blunt truth is that none of us will get out of here alive.

Sometimes, the less fortunate show a greater amount of empathy than do the wealthy. They go through a full spectrum of emotions nearly every day. They cry. They laugh. Many can put their anger aside for the love of family. They understand what it means to be human. They can also see the difference between truth and lies because for them to give their trust to anyone, they must be careful to not risk what little they may have.

I admire those who can stay afloat in a stormy sea. I respect them that have not lost their faith. They keep their courage in a world that threatens to step its giant foot upon their very souls. They hold true to a high level of the quality of their character.

Psychologists say that the best way to impart good virtues to our children is to be examples of good character for them. Kids learn by observing, not from preaching. They watch how we solve problems in an ethical manner. They see how we approach adversity without anger, without hatred.

In the story of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, a runaway slave says to his young friend, “Just because everybody thinks something is right, don’t make it right.”

We can get swept away by public opinion or by figures of authority into accepting their truth. There’s a comfort level to agree with the majority and not be a voice for the minority. We risk persecution and perhaps even risk our lives. In the story of the starfish thrower, the ocean sends thousands of helpless creatures to their deaths, far too many to save, and the old man offers a logical explanation that it would require an extraordinary amount of effort to throw them all back into the sea. But the little girl doesn’t think she must save them all. She saves this one and that one, and if starfish can feel gratitude, they would appreciate her effort. She made a difference to the minority, and that minority will be able to grow numbers into an equality of everything else that lives in the ocean.

Emerson challenges us to believe that “even if one life has breathed easier because you have lived” that is success. We can all be become starfish throwers. It just takes a kind word, a hug or even a smile. Save the world one person at a time, and by doing so, we leave a part of our goodness that will remain within others long after we have left this life.

We can make a difference by helping humanity become human again.

Email Rich Strack at richiesadie11@gmail.com