Starfish, Celiac, and Once upon a time… Be Part of the Solution

Many people have heard this story in one form or another, it’s one of my favorites; inspiring me and reminding me change does start with one person at a time.

One day a little girl is walking down by the ocean and she sees thousands of starfish washed along the shore. Unsure of what she should do, she leans down, picks one up and hurls it back into the ocean. She then picks up another and then another and one by one she walks along throwing them back in the water. After awhile a man walks up and says, ‘what are you doing you crazy girl, there are thousands of starfish, there’s no way you can throw them all back and make a difference.’ The little girl looks up at him and thinks a minute; studying the covered beach. She leans down picks up a starfish and hurls it back in the ocean saying, ‘I made a difference to that one’.

Change starts one starfish at a time. Be part of the solution

“The Star Thrower” (or “starfish story”) is part of a 16-page essay of the same name by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe.