“The Star Thrower” — Aren't Diversity and Inclusion Efforts Pointless?
This morning I finished reading my wife’s newly published second book Restore Your Life.
Within the second to last chapter she provides a retelling of a story called “The Star Thrower” by Loren Eiseley. Her story moved me greatly as it speaks so much of my commitment to seeing and end to racism.
To paraphrase, overnight a violent storm throws tens of thousands of starfish up onto a large expanse of beach. The next morning two young children decide they would help to put the starfish back into the sea. A man comes along and seeing the futility of their task, he tells the children to go home because their efforts are pointless. Throwing another starfish into the sea one of the children turns to the man and says “It made a difference to that one, didn’t it!”
On Wednesday was the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd. Unfortunately on the same day we saw continuing acts of violence and abuse against people of colour across the globe. There are far too many to list, but in the last two weeks here are just a few:
- Mass shooting where 19 largely Latinx children and their 2 Teachers were killed
- Mass shooting of Taiwanese people where one person was killed
- Mass shooting specifically targeting Black people where 10 people were killed
- BBC report on Uyghurs detention camps in China
As many of you know, my focus is on seeing an end to racism and because of the size and complexity of the problem some would say that my efforts are pointless. How can my individual conversations and posts make a difference? For the same reason many people decide not to engage in any of the following primary diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) focus areas:
- Age
- Physical and Mental Ability
- Gender and Gender Identity
- Race and Ethnicity
- Sexual Orientation
You might ask yourself, “where can I start?”, “I can’t do it all? Or you might convince yourself that the problem is so enormous it’s overwhelming! It’s like looking at the beach full of thousands of stranded starfish described in the story.
But you and I can make a difference.
I’m not asking you to engage in the fight against racism if you don’t feel like you can give your full commitment as I have. But I do ask you to no longer condone discrimination and abuse in all of the DE&I primary focus areas and to actively commit to becoming an ally in at least one of them.
When you have decided which one you can engage with, just start! Begin to make a difference, no matter how small or insignificant it might appear to you.
Just as the child on the beach said to the man “It made a difference to that one, didn’t it!”
If you are interested in reading my wife’s book search for Mandy Muckett on Amazon in you country. You can order it in Paperback and Kindle format. You can also visit her website on mandymuckett.com
