Starfish on the Beach
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s all about, this bracelet is for you. Aside from its great-looking style, there’s a message here that reminds us we all matter, and that no good deed is wasted. Made of tumbled golden jade stone (the color of sand in your toes!), sterling silver, and Swarovski crystals, it proudly features a sterling silver starfish to symbolize what we already know: we can all make a difference. A story accompanies.
The Star Fish …. Based on the story by Loren Eisley
I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise to walk by the ocean’s edge and greet the new day. As I moved through the misty dawn, I focused on a faint, far away motion. I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.
As I approached, I sadly realized that the boy was not dancing to the day, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night’s tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish, and then standing to heave it back into the sea. I asked him the purpose of the effort. “The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves,” he replied. “When the sun rises, they will die unless I throw them back into the sea.”
As the boy explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth’s plan became clear to me, and I countered, “but there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. Surely you cannot expect to make a difference.”
The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish and threw it as far as possible. Turning to me he simply said, “I made a difference to that one.”
I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what he had said. Soon, however, I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping him throw starfish into the sea.
