The Starfish Government

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒂, 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒊𝒏 2012.

We all know the famous Starfish Story.
A little boy walks along a beach, picking up stranded starfish and throwing them back into the sea.

A man asks him why.

"If I leave them here," the boy replies, "they'll shrivel up in the sun and die."
The man laughs.
"There are thousands of starfish. You can't save them all."
The boy throws another one into the water.
"It made a difference to that one."
The lesson is simple.
Helping one life matters.

Years passed.
The boy grew up and joined the government.
He remembered that beach.
He remembered wishing there were a way to save not just one starfish…but every starfish!
So together with many clever people, they built machines.
The machines could rescue hundreds of starfish every hour.
Then thousands.
Soon they built better machines.
They hired engineers.
Scientists.
Policy makers.
The government became very good at saving starfish.
Entire beaches that once lay covered in dying starfish became almost empty by sunset.
The people applauded.
The government wasn't saving one starfish anymore.
It was saving millions.

But helping millions is complicated.
The boy now needed to think about systems.
Budgets had to be approved.
Policies had to be written.
Rules had to be followed.
To make sure taxpayer money was being spent wisely, every rescue had to be measured.
How many starfish today?
How many this month?
How much did each rescue cost?
Which beaches produced the best results?
The reports became thicker every year.
The systems became more sophisticated.
Eventually there were departments whose entire job was improving the process of saving starfish.

Then something unexpected happened.
One afternoon, a little girl approached the rescue machine carrying a starfish with only four legs.
The sensor rejected it.
"Not recognised as a standard starfish."
The operator shrugged.
"The machine says it doesn't qualify."
"But..." she protested.
"It's still a starfish."

The case was escalated.
Committees were formed.
Experts were consulted.
Working groups were created.
Several years later, a revised 214 page Four-Legged Starfish Recognition Framework was published.

𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐚.

The now elderly man (the same boy from long ago) watched from a distance.
He realised something: everyone had good intentions.
But somewhere, somehow, everyone had become so busy improving the machine...that they occasionally forgot to look down at the starfish lying on the sand.

The old man bent down.
He picked up a starfish.
He threw it gently back into the sea.

A young civil servant walking by noticed him.
"Sir," she said.
"Our machines can save thousands an hour."

The old man smiled. "I know."

"But every now and then..."

"...someone still has to bend down."

𝐰𝐰𝐰.𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐧.𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞. 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠!

#singapore
#throwback