The Starfish Story

By City Year

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement.

She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”

The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,

“Well, I made a difference to that one!”

The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and all the starfish were saved. - adapted from the Star Thrower by Loren C. Eiseley

I have heard several versions of this story but they all have the same meaning.  I feel like the little girl.  There are thousands of orphans in the world.  I became very aware of this in my teen years with the Vietnamese baby lift and the news reports on the horrors that Romanian Orphans endured.  At that time, I felt strongly I wanted to do something about it.  This desire has burned inside of me since that time.  But, as life would have it, I got married, had three great kids and the circumstances to try to make a difference never seemed possible.  Now my kids are grown and supporting themselves and I find myself living in Tennessee in a home with plenty of space and a peaceful country setting.  The whisper in my ear has gotten louder until I can no longer ignore the call.  It is time for me to act.  I can't help all the orphans out there, but it seems God has opened doors for me to help one of them.  This blog is to share our story as it unfolds and perhaps in doing that, it will encourage others to open their eyes to help some other little ones out there that are so desperate for someone to stop and see them and give them the love they so desperately need.  Not everyone is meant to adopt, but all can help in some way.....financially, through prayer, by donating time or items needed, giving parents of adopted kids a needed break.  There are way too many things to list, but you can use your imagination or contact your local foster care for ideas or an adoption agency for ideas.