THE STARFISH STORY

While walking along a beach, an elderly man saw a young boy in the distance who was picking up starfish off the sand and gently tossing them back into the ocean.

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As he neared the boy, the man smiled and said, “Why are you throwing starfish back into the water?”

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The boy replied, “The sun is up, and the tide is going out; if I don’t throw them back in, they’ll die.”

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The man commented, “But, son, don’t you realize that many, many starfish have washed up along every mile of this beach? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

The boy listened politely. He then bent down, gently picked up another starfish, and tossed it past the breaking waves.

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“Sir,” he replied, “I made a difference to that one.”

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Adapted from “The Star Thrower” by Loren C. Eiseley

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The starfish was adopted as the emblem of One Man’s Treasure because, like the young boy on the beach, we make a difference in the lives of the men we serve, one by one.