Do you just ever throw up your hands at all troubles of this world? It would be nice to see a need, give of yourself to help out and have it all settled. Everybody would feel good and things would be right again. Ira Riklis feels that way at times, but he (like most of us) is well aware that it just doesn’t work that way. No matter what you do it seems hard to make a real difference even in one small area. One can end up thinking it’s folly even to try.
But rather than despair, it’s better to just do. Do whatever is in our power to do and know that we have tried and we have made a difference however small. Ira Riklis learned that lesson years ago from a Rabbi who told him the parable of the star thrower. Based on a Loren Eiseley essay about a young man who was trying to save stranded starfish on an immense beach by throwing them one by one back into the sea, the story speaks to optimism, determination and the willingness to appear foolish at times all in the service of doing the right thing to improve the world.