The Starfish Story

       The moral of this story is to try and make a difference with something even if it only gives the slightsest bit of help. The meaning of the story to my life is exactly what the moral is. I can make a difference even if it only helps just one thing. The "wisdom teaching" that the author is trying to convey to the reader (me) is the moral also.

       The moral of the story is indicated in the story at the last line. The last line reads 'As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"' What this young man is trying to say is you need to help what you care about even if you only make the smallest difference because that difference can go a long way. Just by throwing that one starfish back into the water he saved its life and it wouldn't dry out and die. He made a difference to one life.

       When I was reading this story I thought of a quote I had heard before. That quote says, "Stand up for what is right even if you are standing alone." I thought of this quote because this young man didn't care if anyone helped him he just cared about saving just one life on the shore that day. He didn't even care if anyone saw either, even the wise man.

        What I think the wise man in the story thought is that the young man was fighting for a lost cause. Most people think like that and that is why no one fights for what is right anymore. They believe that they can't save things all by themselves so they don't try. The young man went out onto the shore that day not expecting to save every starfish for miles, he just went out there and wanted to make a difference to one starfish at a time.

         The wise man did not see the moral like the young man did. He walked over to the young man expecting to just find him dancining randomly at the shore. What he saw that was really going on he didn't exactly understand so he just told the young man that he couldn'y possibly save thousands of starfish on the shore that day. The young man just wanted to save many though, but what really mattered to him is that he saved at least one.

         In conclusion, I think this moral is not really understood by most people. I think this because most people want to see big results when they are trying to help. They want those visible results right away but sometimes they don't get it. Those people would be considered the wise man in the story. The people considered to be the young man would be the people who help out and don't expect much in return, just the satisfaction that they helped one life that day.