making a difference

a woman i met thru bone sighs sent me a book of
hers yesterday as a gift.

i wrote her, told her i got it and told her i'd
curl up with it that nite.

she wrote back and said she was a little nervous
having me read it as she liked my writing.

i have to laugh about that.........
let's face it....i write like a third grader.
that's not a put down. i like it just fine.
but it's hardly what i figure would be considered
stuff to make you nervous.

so i smiled at that and curled in later.

it's a thin book. i got half way thru it.
and i am loving it. absolutely loving it.

it's the story of cara deciding she wants to
mentor women coming out of abusive lives.
she co writes it with one of the women she
mentored, shelly.

shelly is telling what she's learning and how
she's coming to trust and like cara.

i put the book down and just kinda lay there
against my pillow thinking about these women.

i wouldn't care if they wrote it in half
sentences with every word spelled wrong.
turns out they wrote great! but who cares??

what they are doing together is stunning.
totally overwhelmingly stunning.

and once again i'm reminded of the power
of women.

and! they use that great starfish story
as the theme/title of the book!!

here's a link to the book for you to see....

and here's the starfish story in case you
don't know it....

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "I made a difference to that one!"