Deren and I were discussing the frustration of being stuck in a system, that no matter what you say or do, people are not willing to take into consideration what you said and are still doing the same old things, as if what you said or do is futile.

So I shared the inspirational Starfish Story with him...

The Starfish Story Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said… "I made a difference for that one."

After I briefly shared the story, here goes our conversation.

Me: So you know, whenever I feel frustrated about being stuck in some place where I can't do much, I'll just do whatever I can within my individual capacity.

Deren: Why must the guy pick up the starfishes one by one? Why can't he just use the bulldozer to pick the starfishes and throw them back into the sea?

Me: ........

This inspirational story just officially got massacred with his response :/