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There are a number of things about this world that are just straight up bass-ackwards, and chances are we’ll never fix all of them. Unless you’re an indestructible cheerleader (a little love for you Heroes fans) trying to save the whole world is setting yourself up for disappointment and what psychologists refer to as “compassion fatigue” - an emotional burn-out that can leave you feeling both empty and powerless.

But the answer is not to stop trying. We need to re-define our goals as humanitarians. So instead of trying to save the world, think of compassionate aid this way - each new day is a new opportunity for us, both individually and as a society, to make the world around us a little bit more like we think it should be.

There’s a story about a woman walking on a beach at low tide the day after a large storm has passed. Stranded on the beach after the storm are thousands of starfish, as far as they eye can see in both directions. The woman is picking up the starfish one by one, and throwing them back into their ocean habitat. A man walks by and notices what the woman is doing, and he cannot help but pause to ask her:
“Why do you trouble to throw the starfish back? There are thousands of them, as you can see; you cannot possibly make a difference.”
The woman simply smiled at him, picked up another starfish, and tossed it back to the sea. When she saw the confused look on the man’s face, she replied to him:
“I made a difference to that one.”

You can make a difference. Go to our new permanent page Save A Starfish to learn more.

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