'Been thinking about....the starfish story

I have enjoyed many adaptations of Loren C. Eiseley’s starfish thrower’s story and this is mine.

“A young man is waking on the Outer Banks beach between Avon and Buxton the morning after another great storm. He comes to a stretch where thousands upon thousands of starfish have been stranded. Up ahead, he sees an old man, stooping often to pick up a starfish and gently toss it back into the sea.

 “Why are you throwing these starfish back?” the young fellow asks.

 “Because the sun is rising, the tide is falling, and, if I don’t get them back into the water, they will die.”

 “Old man, don’t you see that there is at least a mile of beach covered with starfish? There are thousands of them. You can’t save all of them, heck, you can’t save a tenth of them. If you stayed here all day, what you’re doing wouldn’t make any difference at all."

The old man bends down, picks up a starfish, and tosses it back into the sea. “It makes a difference to that one,” he replies. Truth is, that’s not how the original story ends.

Seems to me that, every day, there are thousands of variations to the starfish story…the first responder who stays just a little bit longer at the catastrophe and hears the buried child’s muffled plea…the fellow who spends his life creating a refuge for elephants…the single parent who works three jobs so her children can finish school…the young lady who holds the door open at Winston’s for a shuffling old man…the billionaire who gives millions to charitable funds…the driver who lets you zipper in at the on-ramp…the folks who plant trees on Arbor Day…the eighth grader who saves quarters to send to Africa for a well…the well dressed lady in a fancy car who passes out Ziploc bags of water bottles and Nabs to homeless people at the intersection.

The starfish story is about positive actions and another kind of starfish story is about negative actions. The  fast food customer who didn’t throw the wrapper out of the window. The driver who didn’t try to beat a yellow light. The guy at the super market who didn’t yell at the cashier. The HVAC technician who didn’t tell you that you needed a four hundred dollar upgrade. The saleslady who didn’t tell you the wrong color looked good.

I’ve been thinking that my life would be a whole lot better if I had just one starfish story each day. I was trying to figure out how to make that happen… then a friend of mine gave me a book titled, "Do One Thing Every Day To Make You Smile." So…I decided to smile and say "Good Morning" to everyone I passed going into and out of the Food Lion where I shop. I’m going to keep a journal in my car of every one of the responses to my effort. After the first month I’m going to decide if I have another starfish story…more later….

Esse Quam Viderie

Joe Mavretic is a former Marine Corps fighter jet pilot, longtime legislator and Speaker of the NC House and opinion writer.