SOLASTER CONSULTING

THE STARFISH STORY

There was an old man who started his day by walking along the beach close to his home. Early one morning, he was walking along the shore after a storm had passed and found that the vast beach was covered with starfish as far as he could see.

Off in the distance, the old man noticed a young girl approaching him and she appeared to be dancing. As she “danced” towards him she would pause, touch the sand and pirouette with outstretched arms. As she got closer, the man could see that her “dance” was choreographed to pick up starfish and throw them 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 “I am throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the sea by themselves,” she then added, “when the sun gets high, they will die, unless I throw them back into the water.”

The old man replied, “But there must be 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 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!”

Adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

MY PERSPECTIVE

I absolutely love this story and all the versions of it that have been adapted from “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley. It speaks to the fact that every one of us can make a difference in the world, whether it be locally or globally. Often our challenge is not in identifying our own personal starfish but rather how we, as an individual, can make a difference. I’m here to tell you that you can. Using the framework of Vision / Plan / Engage / Succeed, I have developed an 8-step guide to how YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. . . . At a high level it looks like this: