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wSep 13, 2005 | |
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expect pictures tomorrow from chalking I first heard this story the summer after my freshmen year of high school at a service trip I went on to Washington, D.C. I like to think of that time as a definite turning point in my life - the first time I was really exposed to poverty and also was taught that we are all called to be leaders, and that as Catholics (but really - as people), we are called to lift up our fellow man and to not ignore other human beings no matter what their position in social stratification. That said, here is the story (copyrighted by someone, maybe, I don't know, but I certainly don't claim it as my own). A young girl was walking along a beach. To her amazement, she came upon thousands of starfish. Washed ashore by a storm, they were dying in the hot sun. The girl began to toss starfish back into the sea, one by one. After a while, a man approached her. "Little girl," he asked, "why are you doing this? There are thousands of starfish on the beach. You cannot possibly hope to make a difference!" The girl was discouraged, and dropped the starfish in her hand. But a moment later, she bent down, picked up the starfish again, and tossed it as far as she could into the sea. She turned back to the man. Smiling brightly, she said, "I made a difference to that one!" When I originally heard the story, it ended there. And I like it ending like that - it makes a definite point. But in the story I read today (in a book I'm reading excerpts from for Comparative Ethnic Studies), it goes on: Inspired, he joined her. A crowd had gathered, and soon others joined in. Before long, there were hundreds of people tossing starfish back into the sea and calling out, "I made a difference to that one!" After a while, their calls subsided. The girl looked up. To her amazement, she saw no starfish on the beach. Each one had been tossed back into the sea. So, while I enjoy the first ending and the point it makes, I do enjoy the point made by the expanded version. I was going to write lots of things tonight, but then we went chalking for Anime Club after copy editing and now I feel like I'm going to die. And I have to get up early tomorrow and run to three classes in a row, with the power lecture being the last one. ;_; I had had lots of little things to do tonight, but I ran out of time. I guess that happens a lot to everybody every day. You never have enough time to do all of the things you'd like to do, so intead you do the things you have to do. I wonder if that's what people feel like when they die. Like there were all kinds of things you had wanted to do, but never got around to it because you spent your life fulfilling obligations instead. My feelings are getting really conflicted about a number of things and I'm turning into one of those people I hate, who doesn't know what the hell they want. So I'm solving the problem my minimizing conversations of depth. It's really not that difficult. I'm hungry, but instead of eating, I'll go lie in my bed and hope to sleep soon, as I get up at 7:00. *frowny face* Current Music: it'll be 'Shackled' in about 90 seconds....scribbled mystickeeper at 12:44 AM  
1 comments 1 Comments:
cheer up
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