Blog: Become a Star Thrower

Every Wednesday night, my 22-year-old daughter works at her church in Southern California as a volunteer leader for middle school girls.

She doesn’t do a lot of talking she says, but she does a lot of listening. She loves being there for them, at a time of life that can be turbulent for 12 and 13-year-old girls.

When she came home for Christmas, she showed me a beautiful glass starfish ornament she had received as a gift from one of her girls. Along with the starfish came a story and it went something like this: 

Very early one morning a man was walking down the beach, enjoying the view of the ocean. Up ahead he noticed a young boy dancing along the shore, picking up and throwing something out into the water. As he walked closer to the boy, the man saw that the objects were starfish. The man asked a question: “Why in the world are you throwing starfish into the water?” 

“If the starfish are still on the beach when the tide goes out and the sun rises higher in the sky, they will die,” said the boy as he continued throwing starfish out into the sea. “That’s riduculous! There are thousands of miles of beach and millions of starfish. You can’t believe that what you are doing could possibly make a difference!”

The young boy picked up another starfish, paused for a moment and then remarked as he tossed another starfish out into the waves, “It makes a difference to this one.”

The man left the boy and went home, thinking about what the boy had said. After much thought, he made a decision and he returned to the beach, spending the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish into the sea.

My daughter loved this story which was adapted from an essay named “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley and I was so happy she shared it with me. Eiseley was a scientist, teacher, poet and philosopher. He published many works, but his most well known essay is The Star Thrower. It has been described by one reader as “music for the soul”.

He wrote insightfully and beautifully about life and our role in it.

Simply put, this story tells us that we have all been given the ability and the power to make a difference in the lives of others. The story is a wonderful reminder that we should volunteer to help, even in small ways because in doing so a life may be bettered, a life may even be saved.  

Read the story, then reread the story and then become a star thrower in your life.