I like to make a difference..

I am reminded of a story about a little boy on a beach. A man saw him repeatedly reaching down to pick up starfishes from the sandy floor and then gently throwing each one into the sea.

The man asked the boy why he was doping what he was doing. The little boy said that he was throwing the starfishes back to the sea so that they wouldn't die as the sun was up and the tide was low. Looking at the miles and miles of sandy beach full of starfishes, the man told the little boy that he wasn't making a difference with what he was doing.

The boy smiled at the man and said: "I make a diiference for the ones I throw back."

Excerpts from the book entitled, Many Lives Many Matters:

Balance and harmony are neglected today, yet they are the foundations of wisdom. Everything is done to excess. People are overweight because they eat excessively. Joggers neglect aspects of themselves and others because they run excessively. They drink too much, smoke too much, carouse too much [ or too little ], talk too much without content, and worry too much. There is too much black-or-white thinking. All or none. This is not the way of nature.

In nature, there is balance. Ecological systems are not eliminated en masse. Plants are consumed and then grow. The sources of sustenance are dipped into and then replenished. The flower is enjoyed, the fruit eaten, the root preserved. Humankind has not learned about balance, let alone practised it. It is guided by greed and ambition, steered by fear.