Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up. As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.

I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.” Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

The Star Thrower - Loren Eiseley

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the moral of this story? i feel as if we are the "starfish all along every mile" of beach. our beliefs, our conscience is the wise man. and friendship is the young man.

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anyhow, this morning i signed onto facebook seeing that a large number of my friends joined the "RIP Sandy Puckett, you will be missed" group. While looking onto the group, I found an article that really really ticked me off. It was about a funeral parlour worker who stole from Puckett while transporting his corpse. "Taiwan police have arrested a funeral parlour worker who stole cash and jewelry from a dead American, a newspaper said Tuesday. Chen Chien-feng was arrested Monday for stealing 3,700 Taiwan dollars (100 US dollars) and jewelry from the home of Sandy Richard Puckett, a 60-year-old teacher at the Taipei American School, while removing Puckett's body Monday morning." Do people have no respect for the dead anymore? Its pathetic. You'd think people would have more respect for the dead.