Making a Difference?

Sometimes, I wonder at the wisdom of getting up before sunrise every Wednesday morning. Especially in the fall when sunrise is around 6:30. I wonder how much of a difference we are making in our little town. And, then I take a very poor picture of the lit greenhouse and see where the day leads.

When we delivered today's 133 lbs. of vegetables, herbs and flowers, a Fare Share volunteer, Lynne, showed me a table full of beautiful bouquets. The lady who brought in those bouquets was a food bank client last year. Back then, she received one of our bouquets and it brightened her day. This year, her circumstances have improved and she decided to pass the feeling on by donating her own bouquets.

Ripples.

It made me think of a fable by Loren Eisely that my favourite Brookside Youth Centre manager often quoted:

An old man had a habit of early morning walks on the beach.

 One day, after a storm,

he saw a human figure in the distance moving like a dancer.

As he came closer he saw that it was a young woman

and she was not dancing but was reaching down to the sand,

picking up a starfish and very gently throwing them into the ocean.

"Young lady," he asked,

"Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?"

"The sun is up,

and the tide is going out,

and if I do not throw them in they will die."

"But young lady,

do you not realise that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it?

You cannot possibly make a difference."

The young woman listened politely,

paused and then bent down,

picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea,

past the breaking waves, saying:

"It made a difference for that one."

Shivers ran up and down my arms when I heard the story of the flower giver. I am glad I got up early this morning. It was a good morning.