Star Thrower Society

In “The Star Thrower,” poet/scientist Loren Eiseley tells of an experience which happened to him as he walked along a beach called Costabel.  He often arose early and walked along the surf.  Each day at sunrise he found townspeople combing the sand for starfish, which had washed ashore during the night, to kill them for commercial purposes.  One morning Eiseley got up unusually early and discovered a solitary figure on the beach—a young man.  This man, too, was gathering starfish, but each time he found one alive he would pick it up and throw it as far as he could out beyond the breaking surf, back into the ocean from which it came.  Eiseley inquired of the young man what he thought he was doing explaining that thousands of starfish wash upon mile after mile of beach, and certainly the young man couldn’t make a difference.  The young man respectfully looked at Eiseley, slowly bent to pick up another starfish, and gently cast it into the ocean replying, “It made a difference to that one!”