Today I share with readers a story published in the book The Star Thrower, written by American anthropologist and poet Loren Eiseley. I bring it up because I am convinced that it makes more sense to reflect on its content now than when it was published in 1969.
The plot revolves around ways of understanding the effectiveness of our efforts; we may not be able to change the course of a war, but we can work on a culture of peace starting with our personal relationships. We are capable of influencing more than we believe in the people who accompany us in life, as Loren Eiseley reflects in this summary of his story that became a reflection known even among experts in managing human capital in companies. Let’s see:
On one occasion, a learned man set out to take a walk along the beach, and as he walked he saw in the distance a young man picking something up from the ground and throwing it into the water. When he had reached him, he greeted him and asked: What is it that you are doing? The young man smiled at him and replied: “I throw starfish into the ocean.” Why? asked the scientist. The tide is going out and if they are left stranded in the sand they can die. The scientist’s response is pure logic: But if there are thousands of starfish on the beach, do you think your effort will accomplish anything? The other listened politely, and as soon as he finished, he bent down again, picked up another starfish, threw it into the sea and replied in this way: For that one, my effort did have meaning—he answered.
The scientist was bewildered by the young man’s response. And he realized that that boy, much less learned than he, had taught him a lesson: he did not want to be a mere observer, but to take part in something he believed in, however insignificant it might seem to a superficial and uncommitted gaze. And putting aside his wounded pride—no one likes being taught a lesson by a young whippersnapper—he went back to where the boy was and helped him continue throwing starfish into the sea.
The young protagonist of the story had grasped the importance of certain gestures in achieving a better world. He was more intelligent than his interlocutor because he had realized that each act is valuable in itself, and it matters to concrete people and concrete situations. And that all human beings, without exception, have the opportunity to do something positive, to create change to improve the world around us by coming out of our comfort indolence. Every action counts. Even though the situation seems overwhelming, our small actions can have a significant impact on the lives of others.
If instead of being a starfish, it is the happiness of our child, the perception changes radically. For parents, a child is everything, but quantitatively, he or she is nothing more than an infinitesimal and irrelevant drop in the immensity of the planet’s inhabitants and the world’s great problems… I would even say it has to do with the butterfly effect, as overused as it is true, which thinker Eduardo Galeano summarized so well in this maxim: many small people in small places, doing small things can change the world.
Gabriel Mª Otalora