bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

You’ve probably come across this story at one point or another, the story goes..

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 for that one!”

From The Tale of the Starfish.

What a great mantra. No you can’t change everything but you can have an impact for that one person right there, or with that one client, or with that one friend. And for that person, it makes a world of difference.

You can’t help everyone but you can help this person right here right now. It’s refreshing.

I really like this as a mode of thinking, when I meet new people, I try to do what I can to help. No I can’t do everything but maybe 1-2 things will help make all the difference.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024 at 1:31 pm.