Earlier This Morning

The Parable of the Starfish

I awoke early to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day. I saw a boy, bending and reaching and waving his arms – dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.

As I approached, I sadly realized that he was not dancing, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea. I asked the boy the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," he replied. "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."

I looked at the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. the hopelessness of the boy's plan became clear to me and I pointed out, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.

He paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that one."

-Loren Eiseley

So your probably wondering why I opened with one of my favorite parables. The reason is that I'm sick (6th time for those who are counting) and I'm tired of writing about that (and I'm sure your all tired of hearing about it.

So instead, I'll write about something that happened to me earlier today. I was walking to the supermarket to buy some cereal and soy milk (can't handle dairy when I have an upset stomach). I was approached by a middle-aged women begging with her young child in her arms. I usually do not stop for beggars and I never give money, but she was begging for me to buy her medicine. So I walked with her to the pharmacy where she ordered three medications for a problem with her daughter's lungs. She had a perscription for them so I assume that they were legitimately needed.

Afterwards, I treated her and her daughter to a meal of chicken and french fries at a local fast food joint. She told me about how the place where she was living did not have a roof or four walls, and that flooding and rain were a persistent problem. In a country where 4 out of ten people make less than 2 dollars a day and nearly half are not formally employed (selling things on the side of the road does not count as formal employment, for example), I realized that I should not be surprised as I was by her poverty.

During the meal, I couldn't help but reflect upon the futility of my actions. There are millions of impoverished people in this country, and as many as half a dozen can approach me on any given day walking through San Salvador, asking me for money.

But I made a difference to those two.