As the old man walked down the beach at dawn, he noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into the sea. Finally catching up with the youth, he asked him why he was doing this. The answer was that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun.
“But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish,” countered the other. “How can your effort make any difference?” The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to safety in the waves.
“It makes a difference to that one,” he said.
Great story, huh? No one person can do it all.
But one person can make a difference. How did you make a difference today? How do you feel about it?
i saw one person smile. for me, that is enough. selah. more than that happened, but after that, it was just icing on the cake. and by tonight? ive got cake to share...with icing...ala mode, if you wish...and whipped cream! :) its the little things. one at a time. they make up a thing that is bigger than ourselves.
ReplyDeleteToday I met a young woman who was on a pilgrimage, if you can believe it. She's walking from Quebec City to Guadalupe Mexico. It's a deeply spiritual trip for her, and she's Catholic, so it's tied up with her religion as well. She was in Nori's buying stuff, and I was checking out behind her. I remarked that she must be camping (backpack and all...). And she told me briefly of her trip. Remembering how grateful I was for any sign of help or friendship on my cycling trip across the country in 2002, I just paid for her stuff. It wasn't much, monetarily, but I could see she was nearly overwhelmed with gratitude. It was fun to make a little "road magic" for her, and it was nice to make a difference to one person.
ReplyDeletei told people that they could wash their yoga mats. that was the first revelation. the second was, you can do it in the washing machine. i am amazed.
ReplyDelete