+ It Doesn't Matter... But It Does!

There are quite a few things I remember – mainly because I want to remember. Some good things. Some bad. If we are a function of our memories – and I think we are – then these chosen memories are necessary.

Everyone has their own paradigm, and I have a strong distaste of prescriptions in these matters, and chicken soup in general. But it is easy to get caught in generalities and the macro picture, in a way, miss the trees for the wood. And there was this little starfish tale I found somewhere that has stuck in my mind. Let me relive it this moment.

The Starfish Tale

A young man went out to the beach early one morning. He found the shore littered with star fish that had been washed ashore during high tide the previous night. They would gasp there for a few minutes and soon die.

As he walked along, he found an old man picking up a star fish, taking it out to the receded waters and laying it down in it. He did this for an hour, after which he did not need to, because the grounded ones were dead. The young man went to the beach every day and every day he saw this sight.

One day, he went up to the old man and asked him, "Why do you indulge in this futile exercise? There are thousands of star fish along this beach and you at best would be able put a few dozen of them back in the sea each day. All the others would die anyway. How does it matter?"

The old man stooped down, picked up a star fish, cradled it in his palms, looked at the young man, then at the fish, and said: — "It matters to this one."