Rescued

On Sunday night Jake and I were getting ready to go to bed when CNN began airing the documentary ‘Rescued’. Within the first minute of the preview, we were no longer going to bed, but instead glued to the TV. This was a story of an orphanage in Haiti called the Lighthouse. Within the documentary the reporter followed the specific stories of two orphans at the Lighthouse….sharing how they got to the orphanage, life at the orphanage, and how their lives were changed after the earthquake. The documentary also told the story of the wife and husband who started the orphanage. They had so many wisdom-filled ‘quotes’ that they said throughout their ‘interviews’ which was really them just sharing their heart as the reporter tagged along each day. I wish I would have been able to commit to memory all of the awesome points that they had. Specifically they talked about how devastating the situation in Haiti was….and they were talking pre-earthquake. When they started the orphanage they realized that they had to stay focused on what they were called to do there, because if they looked at the circumstances surrounding their situation (such as 300,000 children living legally as child slaves, sex trafficking, street begging, orphan crisis, poverty crisis, etc.) they felt at times that the situation was too overwhelming. I also noticed them saying exact lines that I’ve heard Jake say before about the youth of Ghana….like how the goal is to educate them and raise them up so that one day they will be able to help their own country. A few times I noticed both the wife and husband referring to the logic of a ‘starfish story’ each on separate occasions. I googled the starfish story and found it of course. This starfish story has SO MUCH MORE of an impact if you’ve seen this documentary, but I think you can also relate it into the context of adoption….and making a difference for one. What follows is the starfish story…I am also including links to CNN if you want to catch a glimpse of the Rescued documentary….although these short excerpts do not do the full documentary justice at all. Hopefully they will be airing it again.

The Starfish Story
(adapted from The Star Thrower)
by Loren Eiseley (1907 - 1977)

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, "It made a difference for that one."

* * *

And, here are the links:

Rescued Trailer Preview Video (it starts with a 25 second ad for Google):
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2010/04/16/haiti.rescued.trailer.cnn

Excerpt of the story:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/06/rescued.orphans.haiti/