Making a difference

[BuckyXTC]

In spite of the recent events of September 11 and a lot of dismal news and doings that give us a pretty negative outlook on life and the world, I remembered a story from the writings of Loren Eiseley called "The Star Thrower". Maybe you've already read it or heard it, but I think it's worth sharing. Hope someone else finds it as useful as I have.

 

Eiseley was a very special person because he combined the best of two cultures. He was a scientist and a poet. And from those two perspectives he wrote insightfully and beautifully about the world and our role in it.

 

The Star Thrower

 

Once upon a time, there was a wise man, much like Loren Eiseley himself, who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work. One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day.

So he began to walk faster to catch up. As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

 

As he got closer, he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?" The young man paused, looked up and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

 

"I guess I should have asked, Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

 

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

 

"But young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

 

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one!"

 

His response surprised the man. He was upset. He didn't know how to reply. So instead, he turned away and walked back to the cottage to begin his writings.

 

All day long as he wrote, the image of the young man haunted him. He tried to ignore it, but the vision persisted. Finally, late in the afternoon he realized that he the scientist, he the poet, had missed out on the essential nature of the young man's actions. Because he realized that what the young man was doing was choosing not to be an observer in the universe and make a difference. He was embarrased.

 

That night he went to bed troubled. When the morning came he awoke knowing that he had to do something. So he got up, put on his clothes, went to the beach and found the young man. And with him he spent the rest of the morning throwing starfish into the ocean. You see, what that young man's actions represent is something that is special in each and everyone of us. We have all been gifted with the ability to make a difference. And if we can, like that young man, become aware of that gift, we gain through the strength of our vision the power to shape the future.

 

And that is your challenge. And that is my challenge. We must each find our starfish. And if we throw our stars wisely and well, I have no question that the 21st century can be a wonderful place

[marc anthony]

Bucky: At the risk of getting some negative ratings for being too positive, may I tell you that I love your story!

[BuckyXTC]

Thanks Marc:

 

Guess it's politically incorrect to be "positive" these days, but I can assure you that doesn't stop me. Let the negative ratings flow!

[Guest cp8036]

Yes, it is nice, but I just wonder if the starfish get hurt on the impact of hitting the water. PETA might have some problems on this one. Just trying to cover all angles.

[BuckyXTC]

>Yes, it is nice, but I just wonder if the starfish get hurt

>on the impact of hitting the water. PETA might have some

>problems on this one. Just trying to cover all angles.

 

 

Oh dear.....hadn't even considered PETA....what a world we live in. :7

[Guest doc]

A very nice story, with a strong message. I hope everyone at some point in their life will realize the day when they, themselves, have made a difference in someone's life.

 

I was lucky enough to realize my gift early in life and have used that gift to the fullest.:-)

[Boston Guy]

Bucky -

 

Thanks for posting this.

 

I had forgotten Loren Eiseley. Long ago, as a freshman in college, I was taking a course in composition. Our professor, a young Californian newly-transplanted to New England, was a real stickler for careful writing. He was also a fan of nature and, as the Fall progressed, he would return to class each Monday full of stories about how he and his wife had found the foliage even more inspiring than what they had seen the weekend before.

 

For what seemed like an eternity, he made us write sentences. Not connected sentences, sentences forming part of a greater whole, just sentences. He would ask us to write the best sentence we could write on this or that -- once I remember him asking us to choose any ordinary object and describe it fully in one sentence. I well remember sometimes spending an hour or more on a single sentence.

 

We would gather together to read and criticize those sentences and we learned a lot about ourselves and each other through those sentences. Eventually, we went on to longer works and he would assign readings to accompany our writings. One of those assigned readings was The Immense Journey.

 

It is perhaps telling that this collection of essays by Eiseley was assigned reading in a composition class. Eiseley wrote simply and beautifully. If I recall correctly, he was an anthropologist by training who became a kind of naturalist. His essays used nature as a canvas to describe beauty, to seek truth, to help us find our humanity. I would urge anyone who has not had the rather large pleasure of reading Eiseley to do so; surely some of his works must still be in print or be available at libraries -- the effort of finding them will be worth it.

 

I once read a description of the perfect host as someone "who keeps a volume of Saki and another of O'Henry near the lamp in the guest bedroom." I would add a volume of Eiseley to that list.

[Guest need2Btopped]

I kid you not. On September 12 I saw a frantic poster put up here in NYC by PETA asking people if they knew of "Any Animals Whose Humans Are Missing"! PETA was going to go on search and rescue missions to get these animals. I understand their concern, and of course the poor animals did need help. But the absurd, point-making way in which the poster had been phrased, and the TIMING . . . well, just struck me wrong.

[Guest BenDover]

What a great thread and what an great initial posting. Thanks, Bucky. Negative reviews be damned. Today, after spending an hour discussing the state of the world, the war and 9-11 with my assistant and getting thoroughly depressed, your post was a delight. Thank you, again.

And I'm definately putting Eiseley on my reading list.

[+ deej]

>For what seemed like an eternity, he made us write sentences.

 

When I was in high school, I had one of the most dreaded rhetoric instructors in the school. She looked, walked, talked, and acted like a Prussian army general. She began each semester with a lecture that started "Everything you've heard about me is true. Everything you've heard about this course is true."

 

On the first day, we had an in-class assignment to write instructions for making a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. She then collected the papers, pulled out loaves of bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly and proceeded to follow the instructions just turned in to her:

 

"Put peanut butter on bread"

 

WHAM! went the jar on the unopened loaf of bread. ;-)

 

The next set of instructions she asked us to write were much more carefully considered.

 

By the end of the semester, everyone in the class was completely in love with her. An instructor that can get you to actually *think* rather than going through the motions is priceless.

[samhexum]

[+ poolboy48220]

Thanks for bringing this thread alive again; it's from well before I found the forums.

 

I often think about a quote I read in a novel, I'm not even sure which one, I think it's John Varley's "Demon". A character says (and I'm WILDLY paraphrasing) "I don't have any illusions about making the whole world perfect, forever. I just try to make where I am a little bit better, maybe just for today".

[gallahadesquire]

>For what seemed like an eternity, he made us write sentences.

 

When I was in high school, I had one of the most dreaded rhetoric instructors in the school. She looked, walked, talked, and acted like a Prussian army general. She began each semester with a lecture that started "Everything you've heard about me is true. Everything you've heard about this course is true."

 

On the first day, we had an in-class assignment to write instructions for making a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. She then collected the papers, pulled out loaves of bread and jars of peanut butter and jelly and proceeded to follow the instructions just turned in to her:

 

"Put peanut butter on bread"

 

WHAM! went the jar on the unopened loaf of bread. ;-)

 

The next set of instructions she asked us to write were much more carefully considered.

 

By the end of the semester, everyone in the class was completely in love with her. An instructor that can get you to actually *think* rather than going through the motions is priceless.

 

You can lead a whore to culture but you cannot make her think.