A man was taking an early morning stroll along the beach when he noticed a young girl a few hundred yards ahead of him bending down, picking something up, walking to the water's edge and tossing the object into the sea. The man watched for several minutes while the girl performed this act repeatedly. Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, the man walked toward the girl to see what she was doing.
Once the man was close enough to see the girl, he noticed that she was bending down to pick up a starfish, which had been swept up on the beach by the morning tide and stranded there when the tide rolled out. The man asked her what she was doing, and as he suspected, was told that she was finding stranded starfish and tossing them back into the water so they could float back to sea.
The man then noticed that there were several thousand of these starfish washed up on the shore. He pointed this out to the girl and asked her why she was bothering to toss a few back when there were so many. As the girl picked up another starfish from the beach, walked it to the water's edge and gently tossed it back into the sea, she looked at the man and said, "I made a difference to that one."
This story is my wife's favorite Zen story because of its message that no matter how trivial a kind act or word may seem at face value, we are encouraged to always listen to our heart and do the right thing. We should not be persuaded from performing kind acts because of our perception that doing so will not make enough of a difference. This message was reinforced for me when our family recently attended a Christian concert and one of the performers took the opportunity to tell us about an organization that they have partnered with in an attempt to change the world in their own way. He was passionate to tell us how Compassion.com is changing the world one life at a time by providing the framework for individuals to sponsor children living in poverty around the world. He showed a very touching video of young men and women who have benefited from sponsorship and how this simple act has changed their lives forever. Immediately after the presentation my daughter Lindsey wanted to sponsor a child and has since registered to be the sponsor of an adorable girl in South East Asia. I am so proud of my daughter for grasping an understanding of the importance of giving. In the same manner, as the girl on the beach in the Zen story my daughter will not make a dramatic difference on the immense problem of poverty in our world, but she certainly can be the difference for this one girl.
It is from this same perspective that Laurie and I began the pursuit to adopt our son Michael and I can assure you that we have already made a difference in our little starfish's life.
However, the same logic can and should be applied to all of our daily actions. In this day and age, our world continues to become more and more complicated and as a result it may seem as though it is more difficult for one person to make a difference in the world. We are all blessed with an innate desire to make a positive impact on the world, but many of us find it frustrating and demoralizing in our attempts. As a result of these feelings, or a general selfish approach to life, most people fail to make a consistent effort to make a positive change in their world. As Gandhi said, "Be the change that you would like to see in the world."
KAIZEN!!!!
