Re: A Look Back on the Election

There was a man who lived near the beach and, during the evening, decided he'd wake up early the next morning and go for a walk on the beach to see the sunrise. While on his walk, he noticed a man just above the shoreline, taking a few steps, then, stopping to bend down, pick something up and toss whatever it was into the water. The observing man watched as the the man repeated this process for quite some distance down the shoreline, until he was out of sight. The man watched as the sun rose and the thought of the strange man on the shoreline faded from his thoughts.

The next day, the man again awoke in time to walk on the beach in time to see the sunrise and, once again, he noticed the same man, walking along the shoreline, bending over to pick something up and then tossing it into the water. The man studied this behavior and thought to himself how arduous the task looked for the other man. The other man was older and leaned on a cane for support and it was obvious it was difficult for him to bend over each time in order to pick up whatever thing he was getting from the sand. The man on the shoreline came closer, while performing this task. When within earshot, the observing man said to him, "I noticed you here yesterday doing the same thing you're doing now. What is it that you're doing?"

"The starfish get washed up on the beach, above the shoreline during the evening. If they aren't back in the water soon after sun up, the sun will dry them out and they will die" the man answered him.

The observing man scouffed, "But that's a lot of work, I can see it's not easy for you to pick them up. And surely you can't save them all before the sun is up and it gets too hot. What difference can you possibly hope to make?"

The man looked down at the starfish by his feet and stooped to pick it up. He then gently tossed it into the water. "I made a difference for that one," he answered.