President's Message

Made a difference to that one …
and that one…
and that one

Likely, you’ve heard the parable about the man and the starfish. To summarize: The tide is going out, and a solitary man meticulously moves along a stretch of shore, picking up starfish and then flinging them, one by one, back into the brine so they can live. A skeptic encounters the situation and, noting miles upon miles of still-stranded starfish, points out the futility of the man’s efforts. “You cannot possibly make a difference,” the skeptic says.

Then comes the moral. As the man reaches for another starfish and tosses the creature back in to the sea, he replies: “It made a difference to that one.”

It is, no doubt, a poignant illustration of how just one person, with one kind action, can impact a life, a negative situation, and even the world—maybe, perhaps “one child and one community at a time.” But I believe there should be more to the story. You see, if I were telling it, the ending—the moral punch line, if you will—would go like this:

As the man reaches for another starfish and tosses the creature back into the sea, he replies: “It made a difference to that one, and if you will join me, it will make a difference to 20 more. And if your friends—and your friends’ friends—will help, too, together we can help all these miles upon miles of stranded starfish.”

No. Indeed, I would tell it like this:

As the Kiwanian kneels down, ties a young girl’s shoe and hoists the child onto a swing, he says, “I’m making a difference to this one, and if you will join me, we can make a difference to miles upon miles of children who need our help.”

And if your friends—and your friends’ friends—will join, too, it’s quite possible we can together—1 million members strong—make a difference in the lives of billions of children all over the world.