R.D. Bhardwaj “Noorpuri”
Once, a man was was walking along a beach of a famous sea at sunset. As he walked along the beach, he began to see another man in the distance far away, but coming towards his direction. As he kept walking nearer, he noticed that the local native kept leaning down, picking something up, and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he kept picking up those things and hurling them out into the ocean.
As that stranger approached even closer, he observed that the man was, in fact, picking up starfish that had been washed up to the beach, at one point of time, and he was throwing them back into the ocean.
The first man got somewhat puzzled. He approached the man and asked, “Good Evening Friend ! I was wondering to see as what are you doing?” And he replied, “I am throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it is low tide right now and all these starfish have been washed up upto the shore and it is very difficult for them to go back to the sea on their own. And if, myself or some one like me, don’t throw them back into the sea, they will die from the lack of oxygen and their natural pattern of living.”
“I understand that” my friend replied, “But there must be thousands of starfish on this beach and you can not possibly get to all of them back into the sea. Moreover, it is getting dark and you too probably can not stay here to complete your task all the night. There are simply too many and you may realize that this is happening on hundreds of beaches up and down this coast… I hope, you will realise that your action and efforts simply can’t possibly make some credible difference?”
The local native stood up for a while, saw him seriously, smiled a bit, again bent down, picked up yet another starfish … and as usual, he threw it back out into the sea, he then replied, “I hope that you realise now that – it certainly makes a difference to that one, which has gone into the sea!”
Dear friends ! You may feel like that you cannot make a difference in the world today by your small acts of kindness and efforts, but you can certainly make a big difference in the life of a particular person or creature at a time.
Never underestimate your own small efforts or deeds, done in bit-by-bit manner. Rather, be sure, even your small acts of kindness done for some one surely could make a big difference to that person or thing. So please do not get just satisfied by seeing some one or something getting lost or damaged by the vagaries of nature. You must move forward and do your efforts even in a small manner as you may deem fit or whatever is within your means. That itself starts making a difference in his or her life. Also please don’t forget an old saying, “A drowning man catches a straw and that little straw sometimes saves that person’s life. And that person saved by you – may save many other persons in his or her future life !!
