Sea stars

“A terrible storm was raging over the sea. The wind blew freezing, breaking the water and driving it in huge waves that rushed towards the shore, hitting it hard and producing currents that penetrated the depths like steel ploughs and ripped the marine life, crustaceans and molluscs out of place, carrying them dozens of metres from land.

When the storm subsided, as quickly as it had started, the water subsided and receded.

Now the beach was a vast expanse of mud where thousands and thousands of starfish writhed in agony.

This brought many people to that part of the coast. TV crews from various TV stations arrived to film the strange phenomenon.

The starfish were almost motionless. They were dying.

In the crowd, held by his father’s hand, was a child who looked at the little starfish with sad eyes. They were all watching and no one did anything. Suddenly, the child let go of his father’s hand, took off his shoes and ran to the beach. He bent down and picked up three little stars of the sea with his little hands; then, running away, he carried them into the water. Then he turned back and repeated the operation.

From the parapet, a man called out to him:

“What are you doing, boy?”

” – I throw the starfish into the water. Otherwise they will all die on the beach”, the child replied without stopping running.

“But there are thousands and thousands of starfish on this beach: you certainly won’t be able to save them all. There are too many,” the man shouted. “Not to mention that the same thing happens on hundreds of other beaches along the coast! You can’t change things!”

The child smiled, bent down again and picked up another starfish and, throwing it into the water, answered:

” – Here’s what I’ve changed things for!”

The boy remained silent for a moment, then bent down, took off his shoes and socks and went down to the beach. He began to gather starfish and throw them into the water.

A moment later two more girls came down and there were already four people throwing starfish into the water. After another few minutes there were fifty, then a hundred, two hundred, thousands of people throwing starfish into the water.

And so they were all saved.

To change the world it would be enough for someone (even a child) to have the audacity to start.

Story written by Bruno Ferrero