The Starthrower

[GabrielsThoughts]

"the Star thrower"
written by Loren Eisley

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer . He smiled to himself at the the thought of some one who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up
As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects , and throwing them into the ocean.
He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused and replied, "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must  ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

To this the young man replied  "the sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in they'll  die."
Upon hearing this the wise man commented, "But young man, do you not realize that there are miles of beach and there are starfish along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference! "
At this the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."

--end of story--

I just  finished a powerpoint for this story today for My CEP class    now all I have to do is write an outline and thesis paper for my film studies class, a grade school level summary of the solar system for my Asrtonomy class...which will supposedly help me prepare for an exam on monday , and prepare a reading journal for English.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Hmm. If the starfish would die if the tide goes out, then they wouldn't be staying on the shore, now, would they?

As I understand it, starfish are resilient enough that they can survive being in the open air for a while. So throwing them back in the water is unnecessary....

But it's a nice parable. :-)

[Zedd]

Nice story my friend

[DigitalMan]

llearch is right, they wouldn't die. But that is seriously awesome... A wonderful message.