Random Thoughts on Making a Difference
By Roger L. Whiting
A few years ago I quoted a fairly well-known story about a little girl who was determined to make a difference. I think it bears relating once again.
A wise man was taking a sunrise walk on the beach. In the distance he caught sight of a little girl who seemed to be dancing along the waves. As he got closer, he saw the little girl was picking up starfish from the sand and tossing them gently back into the ocean. "What are you doing?" the wise man asked. "The sun is coming up and the tide is going out; if I don't throw them in, they'll die." "But little girl, there are miles and miles of beach with starfish all along it; you can't possibly make a difference." The little girl bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it lovingly back into the ocean, past the breaking waves. "It made a difference for that one," she replied.
Another unknown author wrote, "You may be only one person in the world, but you may also mean the world to one person." Just think about that for a moment...think back over the years. Can you recall a situation when only you were there to help someone in desperate need? I can remember such an instance quite vividly. It was clearly a life or death situation, and without my intervention a baby would have drowned.
I often contemplate the future of our GTL girls - the scholarship recipients whose future would be bleak indeed without our concern and support. Undoubtedly, we "mean the world" to those girls and young women. Of course, we cannot save them all, anymore than the little girl could save all of the thousands of starfish on the beach by tossing them back into the ocean. But, "it will sure make a difference" for each student that we can keep in school as long as possible. Perhaps the following quote from Mother Teresa will help to reinforce the relevance of this idea.
I never look at the masses as my responsibility; I look at the individual. I can only love one person at a time - just one, one, one. So you begin. I began - I picked up one person. Maybe if I didn't pick up that one person, I wouldn't have picked up forty-two thousand. The whole work is only a drop in the ocean. But if I didn't put the drop in, the ocean would be one drop less. The same thing goes for you, the same thing in your family, the same thing in your church, your community. Just begin - one, one, one.
That is what Growth Through Learning is doing. We are picking up one person at a time. Just - one, by one, by one. This past year we sponsored one hundred seventeen "ones." That's pretty significant considering we began with just twelve in 1998. Are we making a difference? To well over five hundred plus students we already have. Without Growth Through Learning they would undoubtedly have been sent off to work the fields, to get married at the age of fifteen, or to become a domestic servant. Just think of the brighter potential future that education can offer these young women.
Our goal is empowerment - the ability to be thinking, self-sustaining individuals. This is what we want for the students. It is what we want for our own children. What do you think would happen if we all spent a meaningful amount of time and energy on behalf of others? My thought is that we would all become more tolerant, understanding, and loving...and yes, maybe just a little bit closer to God. Without doubt we would be a lot happier for it.
Horace Mann, the great American educator, once wrote, "You should be ashamed to die until you have done something for humanity." Could it be that he was telling us to "make a difference"? He wasn't telling us what to do, but rather, to selflessly do something for the benefit of others! In just thirteen words Horace Mann left a legacy of wisdom that could sustain humanity forever.
We each have our own interests, and talents. Providing educational opportunities for girls and young women in East Africa happens to be one of mine. I am totally convinced that it is the right and necessary thing to do. Perhaps your interests are different...no matter. But, as Horace Mann suggests, at least do something to benefit humanity before you die.
Perhaps a tax-deductible gift to Growth Through Learning for the benefit of needy and deserving girls and young women might just fit the bill. Believe me, your contribution will make a difference.
Last modified: Mar 07, 2004, 16:07 EST