by
City Year
A young girl was walking along a beach
upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm.
When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into
the ocean. People watched her with amusement.
She had been doing this for some time
when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look
at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a
difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly
deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish,
and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man
and replied,
“Well, I made a difference to that
one!”
The old man looked at the girl
inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined
the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined, and
all the starfish were saved.
Perseverance against great odds and against
the criticism of others is the very hallmark of value-based idealism, as is refusing
to accept failure. The understanding that we hold in our hands the power to
change a life, a mind, or a circumstance today – right now – is a powerful
insight and motivator. At the same time, idealistic acts, even highly symbolic
ones, have the power to inspire others to act, and sometimes in numbers
significant enough to make a major or even complete impact on the problem at
hand. Perhaps most inspiring of all is to witness the
idealistic power of children and young people in action. The idealism of youth
is a powerful force for leading change in the world. Often it is our youth who
put into action values that we have instilled in them – but have failed to act
on ourselves. The world, therefore, depends on the idealism of youth to lead
the way.
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