Week 2:
Starfish

June 10, 2016

Last week, one of our supervisors, Aaron, sat all 40 interns down to tell us a story. He began by telling us that he, too, started out as a SeaWorld intern, just like us. He was a typical college boy, and, by his own telling, started off as a terrible intern. And during his first week of training, his supervisor told him this story as well.

“It’s sunset. An old man is walking along the beach, staring down at what lies before him. Thousands upon thousands of starfish have washed ashore, and are drowning in the air. What a shame, the old man thinks, realizing how many will simply die.

Further down the beach, the man spots someone else. They appear to be running across the beach, stopping suddenly to stoop down, then running on. How curious, he thinks, and makes his way closer to the mysterious figure. As he approaches, he realizes it’s a young boy, sprinting across the wet sand from starfish to starfish. He stops abruptly in front of one, bends down, picks it up, and heftily chucks it back into the ocean.

The old man scoffs. What does he think he’s doing? There’s thousands of starfish along this beach! He approaches the young boy and asks, “Son, what on earth are you doing?”

The boy looks up. “I’m putting them back in the ocean,” he says simply, “If I don’t, they’ll all die.”

“Yes, but don’t you see?” the old man says, “There are thousands of starfish here. Even if you work all night, you won’t get to them all.”

“No,” the boy says, smiling down at the shining golden starfish in his hand. He pulls his arm back and casts the starfish back into the sea.”But I got to that one.”

Thousands of kids come to Camp SeaWorld every year. There’s no way that I’ll be able to connect with and inspire every single child that walks through these gates; it’s simply impossible. But I’ll get to one. And that’s what matters.