Lessons from Starfish

The blog post below originally appeared on The Leaders Blog, Take Action! as a guest post.

Photo credit: tibchris on Flickr

A recent article in the New York Times by Nikolas Kristof profiled the rise of the DIY Foreign-Aid Revolution, where particular attention is paid to examples of three American women, who saw social problems in far away places being Rwanda, Congo and Nepal, and felt the moral obligation to act to address the dire social situation found in each of these developing countries. Through their efforts, hard work and persistence, we are told that these individuals end up leaving the community in a seemingly better condition than when they found it.

Although the activities of these three individuals mentioned in the article are certainly noble, Kristof does acknowledge that their activities are merely a drop in the bucket when compared to the larger picture of millions more people around the world needing basic access to education, food & shelter, clean drinking water, and the list goes on and on.

Kristof does go on to say that if you happen to be that drop in the bucket of being helped however, it could transform your life. This reminds me of the story of the boy walking along a beach that has starfish lined up for miles on end. The boy walks along the beach, picking up one starfish at a time, throwing them back into the sea when he comes across an old man who asks him what he is doing. The young boy responds by saying that the starfish will die if left out in the morning sun, hence the reason why he is throwing them back into the water. With exclamation in his voice, the old man says that there must be thousands if not millions of starfish stranded along the beach, how could the boy possibly think he could make a difference? The young boy goes on to pick up a starfish and as he throws it into the water, he responds to the old man by saying, “I made a difference to that one”.

Reading Kristof’s article in the New York Times, you do get the warm fuzzy feeling inside that there are people out there in the world doing good, and in some way, we’re encouraged to strive to be just like them, helping to change the world by starting our own non-profit organization, raising funds from our own local community so that people and children halfway around the world could get a better chance at life.

Now, to play devil’s advocate, the reality is not so simple and is a lot more complex than Kristof makes it out to be. Dave Algoso of Foreign Policy, issued a response to Kristof’s article arguing that we all want to tell ourselves stories of going through our own personal hardship in order to make the world a better place. The fact is however, and I agree with Algoso, that the real work of change on the ground takes time and will not come from the foreigner, typically a Westerner, who comes into the developing world to save the day. Rather, it comes from the local community where the change is needed who rally together to make their community a lot better for themselves.  From a previous guest blog post by Akhila Kolisetty, the real key is not to adopt the “saviour complex” where you see the poor and marginalized as the “other” that need saving, but rather, understanding the lives and struggles of the people and the community you are working with, bringing your skills and experiences to the table in order to join them in the journey of realizing their goals.

Don’t get me wrong, I certainly applaud the commitment and work of people who decide to spend months or years overseas in developing countries volunteering with credible international organizations; it is a great learning experience and allows you to see and adopt a different cultural perspective. However, the point is that it is not about you, it is about the people that you are working alongside with, empowering them and embarking on a shared journey together with them to improve their own standard of living.

We can all make a difference in the world, just like the young boy with the starfish mentioned in the story above. Sometimes, we don’t even have to go overseas to do so, we can start with our own local community where we could potentially have the most impact since we understand our context and our culture so much better. If this is the case, then I would highly encourage you to join and volunteer for a club, organization or non-profit that best aligns with your passions, skills and interests. At the end of the day, as long as you stay true to yourself and your intentions, you will have a positive influence on those around you, whether it happens to be in your local community or overseas.