By Lloyd Fritzmeier
When I ask people what they want as their epitaph on their gravestone, many of them say, “He made a difference.” It mattered that she lived. When she was part of other peoples’ lives, they were better.
All of us want to believe our lives count for something. However, we often think we have to make a difference for many, many people if our lives are going to be significant. And, yet, that’s not true. Consider the story of the Starfish.
A boy was walking down the beach in Mexico when he saw a man throwing something out into the ocean. He asked him what he was doing, and the man said, “I’m throwing these starfish back into the water, because they’ll die if they stay on the beach.” The boy looked at the thousands of starfish on the beach and said, “There are too many to throw back…what kind of difference can you possibly make?” The man picked one up, threw it way out into the ocean, watched it sink into the water, and said, “Made a difference for that one!”
So. it’s all about making a difference one person at a time. Every day we’re given the opportunity to do this in other peoples’ lives, whether they work for us, work with us, or are just part of our family or friends. I have a friend who asks himself the question every day, “What have I done to make the world a better place?” He knows that each kind gesture, each helping hand he extends, each smile, or each person he helps makes a difference. If all of us did this each day, think of how powerful that’d be. So, remember the starfish, and pay it forward today. Help someone and make their world better without any thought of reward, and see what a difference that makes….for them and for you.
Lloyd Fritmeier is a leadership coach and strategic advisor with The Starfish Partnership. Contact him at (404) 551-2964 or lfritz@sfritz.com.