You Make A Difference – Never Underestimate Your Power
There’s a story by Loren Eisley from his 16 page essay “Star Thrower,” about a man walking along a beach. He saw a boy standing where a bunch of starfish have washed up on the shore. The boy was picking up the starfish, one at a time, and throwing it back into the ocean.
The man questioned the boy, “why are you wasting your time throwing the starfish back into the sea? Surely you can’t save all these starfish. You know these starfish will all die, you can’t make a difference.”
And the boy undeterred, picked up another starfish, threw it into the sea and said, “I made a difference to that one.”
I had a friend back in High School who had charged into a burning building to save the children who were inside. Later, he received the medal of bravery and honor by the fire department. But when the news station interviewed him, he shook off the honor saying, “I only did what anyone else would have done.”
His heroism amazed me. I wished that I too could do something significant and heroic to help in the world.
It’s so easy to dismiss the difference we make in one another’s lives.
It took me a long time to realize that we don’t have to do extraordinary things to do make a difference.
Day after day for a year, I went to the same fruit stand every morning, day after day, and offered a daily smile to the owner. I never gave it a second thought. Then one day, the owners’ son was there and told me that his father had died the night before. It was a sad moment but the son said that he knew who I was because his father had spoken about me. That it pleased him to see me smile at him every day. And that simple act of offering a smile would make an impact.
We have the power to make a huge difference in our world.
We can begin by sending out the desire of our intention to heal the world. And then we can just show up being our most authentic selves and share our light with the world. Even starting with that little piece – it is enough. And from there, we see like the starfish – we make a difference to one person at a time.
I’d love to know a way you made a difference in someone’s life
