Starfish on the Beach

How many opportunities to spread some kindness or compassion do we pass up on every day?  I'm not talking about huge things, rather simple ones like telling someone how much we appreciate who they are and what they do, or giving something to someone, even when not asked or when it costs us nothing at all.  It really is a shame when we don't seize on more of these with countless opportunities everywhere around us.  We are so often seemingly too busy to look for them, to notice, or to get involved.  After all, what's in it for us?  What difference will we really make after all?

This reminds me of the story about the little boy on a beach.  Thousands of starfish had washed up on this beach and the boy was one by one, throwing the starfish back into the ocean so they would not die on the hot sand.  A man passing by told the boy, "kid, why are you wasting your time doing that?  You can't possibly make a difference by what you are doing."  As the kid threw yet one more star fish back in the ocean, he replied, "I made a difference for that one."

If we merely think in terns of grand gestured of kindness and compassion and the possibility of saving all of the starfish out there, we can easily miss those wonderful moments to help the few starfish that we can help.  Maybe its just a simple phone call to say hi, to say we are thinking of someone.  Maybe its an apology or show of appreciation for another.  Maybe it's a hug given to someone when they really need it or even when they don't.  Heck, it could simply be a much needed smile offered at just the right moment, which is really each and every moment as little as we smile in our world.  Isn't it possible that our simplest efforts really do make a huge difference, often without us even knowing how, if even just for a few of those thousands of starfish?  And you know the really cool thing is you can make these offers of kindness and compassion a daily habit of yours.  How?  By reviewing each night how well you did that day.  Ask yourself, what did I do today that was kind?  How did I show compassion?

"What's that Isaac?  You want daddy to cut you up an apple?  Coming right up Boo-Bear."  Sorry guys, I'm out of here for now."