Open Thread: Starfish

Hosted by a starfish
(This story is my mother's explanation for her activism.)

A man walked along the beach after a storm.  Looking down the shore, he saw starfish - hundreds, thousands of them - littered on the sand: washed up by the storm's waves, and stranded when the waters receded.

As he walked, he saw a small boy making his way slowly down the beach.  Every step or two, the boy would stop, bend over, and throw a starfish back into the water - saving it from drying out in the sun and dying.

The man shook his head.  "Hey kid," he called out, walking up to the boy, "look around you.  There's thousands of starfish on this beach.  You can't possibly get to all of them before they die.  What you're doing - it's a nice idea, but in the long run, it's not going to make a difference."

The boy looked at him a moment, then turned away, bent down, and threw another starfish into the surf.  Turning back to the man, he shrugged.  "Made a difference to that one."

Friday Recommendations!  What have you been reading/writing/listening to/playing/watching lately?  Shamelessly self-promote or boost the signal on something you think we should know about - the weekend’s coming up, give us something new to explore! 

(And, like on all threads: please remember to use the "post new comment" feature rather than the "reply" feature, even when directly replying to someone else!)

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