Make A Difference
Make a Difference
In all likelihood you have heard the Starfish story before; it contains a powerful truth. It is a short narrative – assumed to be written by Loren Eisley.
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”I made a difference for that one.”
Edward Hale said, “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
A long time ago when I was a high school student working in a grocery store, the manager called a meeting of all the “sackers.” He told us that our customers would be positively impacted when they observed employees doing the little things that matter: things like packing sacks so that bread or eggs would not be crushed or broken; being friendly to everyone who came to our check-out; calling customers by their name; assisting by taking bags to automobiles and talking to the customer as we walked; and placing the groceries on the floor, not on the seat where they might fall over in case of a sudden stop. In other words, doing things that seemed insignificant – but made a difference.
I remember one specific day when there was a terrible rain and wind storm outside the store. Newspapers from vending machines of nearby businesses and neighborhood debris were scattered everywhere. Each time my friend Henry carried bags to cars he would come back bringing pieces of newspaper. His example was contagious. Before long, all of us who were sackers were bringing sheets of paper and trash back inside the store and depositing our collections in the trash. The efforts of one turned into the efforts of many. It made a difference.
I am guessing that we all have opportunities each day to make a difference in someone’s life. We can do the little things that matter. No matter how small, how dirty or how difficult . . . none of us has made a greater mistake than doing nothing because we could do only a little.
“Whatever you do, do it well . . . “(Ecclesiastes 9:10, The Living Bible)
Larry Yarborough is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Middle Tennessee in Nashville. He can be reached at lyarborough@ymcamidtn.org and on his profile page here.
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