# What is "the story of 'the starfishes on the beach'?" (Allusion in essay) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242 "2018-01-22T20:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/1 "2018-01-22T20:46:30Z")
The following is an excerpt from article on DACA etc. in _[National Review](http://www.nationalreview.com/article/455598/daca-defeerred-action-childhood-arrivals-americans-responsibility-undocumented-immigrants)_: I think it is often better for refugees to resettle in countries similar to the one they fled, provided they are safe there, but that this is not an excuse to refuse giving whatever help we uniquely can;\* and if you say that it’s unfair to help some people if we can’t help all of them, I’ll have to quote the story about the starfishes on the beach at you. \*[italics original] What does this allusion mean? I have no clue. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/2 "2018-01-22T20:50:58Z")
The inability to make a positive difference for everyone doesn’t invalidate efforts to make a positive difference to one person. Two people are on a beach littered with starfishes. One man is picking up the fishes and tossing them back into the ocean. The other man says, “Why waste your time with that? You can’t save all the starfishes.” The first man picks up a starfish and tosses it into the ocean. “Saved that one.” ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/3 "2018-01-22T20:54:16Z")
Specifically, it’s from a Loren Eiseley essay that has been retold in many much more glurgy ways than he wrote. > **[The Star Thrower](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star_Thrower)** > > "The Star Thrower" (or "starfish story") is part of a 16-page essay of the same name by Loren Eiseley (1907–1977), published in 1969 in The Unexpected Universe. The Star Thrower is also the title of a 1978 anthology of Eiseley's works (including the essay), which he completed shortly before his death. > The story describes the narrator walking along the beach early one morning in the pre-dawn twilight, when he sees a man picking up a starfish off the sand and throwing it into the sea. The narrator... ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/4 "2018-01-22T23:01:48Z")
I mainly hear this told by Evangelical Christians talking about souls. (The beach is actually the same one with the sand footprints, just down the way from the rainbow bridge and the glurge factory.) ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/5 "2018-01-23T02:13:08Z")
It’s probably the same beach as the sandpiper to give you joy: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=829052](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=829052) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/6 "2018-01-23T02:19:35Z")
HA, HA, HA! Drive-by earworm: But the stars we could reach Were just starfish on the beach. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/7 "2018-01-23T12:18:48Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > The inability to make a positive difference for everyone doesn’t invalidate efforts to make a positive difference to one person. > > Two people are on a beach littered with starfishes. One man is picking up the fishes and tossing them back into the ocean. The other man says, “Why waste your time with that? You can’t save all the starfishes.” The first man picks up a starfish and tosses it into the ocean. “Saved that one.” This is how it’s usually presented and as mentioned, there’s often a religious angle to it. But Eiseley (not a religious man) was writing about what it meant that man is an animal that tries to save things like the starfish. In the essay, it didn’t matter if the thrower could save only one star or all of them. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/8 "2018-01-23T13:04:45Z")
Heh. I am reminded of one of the few Facebook posts that made me laugh. Someone posted one of those “Share this picture of Jesus” things using a picture of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, presumably for comedic purposes. Which was not particularly funny in itself, but in the comments below it someone had written: > [@](#): > > …and where you see only one set of footprints, it was there that the sand people walked single-file to hide their numbers. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/9 "2018-01-23T15:25:33Z")
Thanks, people. I actually also don’t know what “glurge” means… (is it a Brit word?) ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/10 "2018-01-23T15:26:47Z")
A story, poem, lesson etc. that is overly sweet and sentimental and usually religious. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/11 "2018-01-23T15:27:36Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Thanks, people. > > I actually also don’t know what “glurge” means… (is it a Brit word?) Nope - new to me too :- Glurge is a catch-all term for any “inspirational” tale which conceals a much darker meaning than the uplifting moral lessons it purports to offer. (The word “glurge” was initially coined by a reader of [Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com) , and derives from the sound of someone throwing up.) Glurge - TV Tropes ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/12 "2018-01-23T15:50:14Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > HA, HA, HA! Drive-by earworm: > > But the stars we could reach > Were just starfish on the beach. > > :eek: :mad::mad::mad: ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/13 "2018-01-23T15:55:48Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Thanks, people. > > I actually also don’t know what “glurge” means… (is it a Brit word?) Do you know what “google” means? I mean, I know you aren’t supposed to say “just google it”, but when it is an individual word, more often then not the first hit is the definition. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/14 "2018-01-23T16:40:35Z")
The starfish story is used by a number of foster/adopt organizations. Usually, the last lines spoken are along the lines of, “There are too many, throwing a few back doesn’t matter!” “It matters to this one.” (toss) Starfish jewelry with the “it matters to this one” line are common. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/15 "2018-01-23T16:45:08Z")
It just occurred to me to ask how all those starfish got on the beach? They’re not a migrating species (laden or unladen), and it doesn’t seem like the tide would strand that many of them in one location. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/16 "2018-01-23T17:35:49Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > It just occurred to me to ask how all those starfish got on the beach? They’re not a migrating species (laden or unladen), and it doesn’t seem like the tide would strand that many of them in one location. There’s a guy just like the one on the beach throwing starfish into the ocean, but with a goatee; he’s underwater tossing starfish up on to the beach. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/17 "2018-01-23T19:47:51Z")
**Moderator Note** > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Do you know what “google” means? > > I mean, I know you aren’t supposed to say “just google it”, but when it is an individual word, more often then not the first hit is the definition. This is addressed in the FAQ for this forum. > [@General Questions Rules & FAQs](#): > > By the same token, we aren’t interested in hearing about how stupid the question was because a search could have answered the question. Nor are we interested in hearing how simple it was for another poster to find the answer in a search engine. If it’s that simple to find the answer, go ahead and post the answer. > **[Factual Questions Rules & FAQs](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=466202)** > > Please be aware of the general rules for the Straight Dope Message Boards, which applies to all forums: FAQ - Rules for Posting on the Straight Dope Message Boards includes how to report bad posts, copyright rules, forbidden topics, quoting other... You knew you weren’t supposed to say “just google it”, so please, don’t say it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/18 "2018-01-23T20:04:51Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Thanks, people. > > I actually also don’t know what “glurge” means… (is it a Brit word?) > [@bob\_2](#): > > Nope - new to me too :- > > Glurge is a catch-all term for any “inspirational” tale which conceals a much darker meaning than the uplifting moral lessons it purports to offer. (The word “glurge” was initially coined by a reader of [Snopes.com](http://Snopes.com) , and derives from the sound of someone throwing up.) > Glurge - TV Tropes In Snopes, the explanation of “glurge” is as follows: > [@](#): > > What is glurge? Think of it as chicken soup with several cups of sugar mixed in: It’s supposed to be a method of delivering a remedy for what ails you by adding sweetening to make the cure more appealing, but the result is more often a sickly-sweet concoction that induces hyperglycemic fits. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/19 "2018-01-23T20:12:04Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > The starfish story is used by a number of foster/adopt organizations. Usually, the last lines spoken are along the lines of, “There are too many, throwing a few back doesn’t matter!” “It matters to this one.” (toss) Starfish jewelry with the “it matters to this one” line are common. Are starfish capable of experiencing trauma? I know that _ **I** _ am; and if I had, through the normal hurly-burly of life’s vicissitudes, been transferred from a suburban to a hyper-rural environment, then finding myself suddenly flung back into the suburban environment would probably be pretty traumatic, and not at all the kind of thing I would be grateful for, the benevolent intentions of the flinger notwithstanding. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2018, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242/20 "2018-01-23T20:24:50Z")
Picking up a starfish from the beach, cutting it in half, then tossing the halves back creates a situation where due to regeneration, you now have two starfish. So there’s also that interpretation. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-story-of-the-starfishes-on-the-beach-allusion-in-essay/807242.md?page=2)