Starfish

I am sure that you have all heard the beautiful story about the little boy who went to the seaside and found the whole beach covered with starfish. He could see that as the tide receded and the sun rose in the sky, they were going to die, so he decided to pick each one up individually and take it back to the sea. His Grandfather come down to the beach and watched him frantically trying to rescue the thousands of stranded starfish and said to him, “You are wasting your time. You will never save all the starfish, it’s too big a job.” To which the little boy replied, “Well I’m going to try because you see Grandfather, every starfish counts.”

What you probably don’t know though, is the second part of this story.  

When the little boy returned from the seaside he went to visit the little girls who lived next door.  There were seven sisters living in the house next door and he had always got on really well with them because not only were they wise and fun to play with, they also had awesome bicycles that they let him borrow.

The sisters listened intently while he explained his story about the starfish and felt his sadness that even with his Herculean effort; he had only managed to save half of them.  They were horrified that his brothers had not come to help him and promised that they would see if there was a way that they could help him change the situation. 

The sisters were pretty astute and in tune with their environment. They knew that the tide and the moon were linked so they learnt to talk to the earth, the moon, the stars and the sun and they asked them for help.  They learnt about the equinoxes, solstices, the power of a full moon and the changing constellations in the  sky. They also learnt to be patient because changing the tide permanently meant all of the natural elements had to be in exactly the right place at the right time. And that’s exactly what happened. 

The tide changed permanently and not one single starfish was left behind. Not even the ones that persistently walked in the opposite direction away from the incoming tide. 

As I write this story for you, I would like to wish you a wonderful Spring Equinox. Let’s all learn to live more, love more and laugh more in a kinder, gentler and more caring world.