Learning from Old Men and Starfish
Greetings all from your Hackettstown chiropractic care team at Village Family Clinic. It’s truly an honor to contribute what we can to you, the people in our community. Today we offer you simple messaging that we hope you take to heart. Each of you, this very day, can easily and meaningfully contribute to others. We hope that you do, just like the old man in this story.
At the first light of early dawn, a young man walked along the shore’s edge, down by the sea. A ferocious storm had raged the night before. He knew this would be a good morning to find beautiful seashells.
He rolled up his pant legs, just below his knees, and walked along the beach looking for treasures.
After a while, he looked up from the sandy shoreline, spying an old man coming up the surf’s edge toward him. Again, and again, he watched as the old man reached down, picked up an object from the sand, and tossed it into the surf.
As the two approached each other, the younger man noticed that the old guy was picking up and tossing starfish. The storm had washed them ashore. Thousands of them were stranded there on the beach.
One at a time, he picked up a starfish and tossed it into the ocean. But still, thousands remained.
Approaching the old man, the young fellow interrupted him. “Excuse me, sir” he said, “but there are so many starfish stranded here. You can’t possibly make a difference that way. Why are you even wasting your time?”
The old man smiled at him and picked up another starfish. He held it up for the young man to see and then tossed it back into the water. “Well, son,” he said, “it made a difference to THAT starfish.”
Somebody once made a difference for me too when I was only 13 years old. I was in a terrible accident. The car I was in crashed at high-speed … totaled it. I suffered horribly with severe back spasms daily. It was unbearable torture.
But I was lucky. My mother took me to a chiropractor for an appointment. Within two weeks I was almost completely out of pain. It changed my life. In fact, I was so impressed, it defined my life’s purpose.
Small things can often make a huge difference in other people’s lives. For us here at Village Family Clinic, it’s truly an honor to contribute what we can to you, the people in our community.
