HAVE you heard the starfish story? A high tide had left hundreds of starfish cast up on a long beach. As the tide receded and the sun rose higher these starfish were going to die. A youth walking on the shore line gently picked one up and threw it back into the sea. She worked to return as many as possible to the water. A passing stranger commented: "you’ll never save them all" and kept walking. As she put the one she had just picked up back in the sea she said "that’s another one saved" and carried on. Most of us have a desire to see the world a better place, whether that be less prejudiced, fairer, safer, less polluted, friendlier, kinder. The task though is daunting, where do we begin? I think we begin with the hope and belief that we can make a difference and the enthusiasm to carry on regardless of the response of others. Abdu’l‑Bahá said "If you desire with all your heart, friendship with every race on earth, your thought, spiritual and positive, will spread; it will become the desire of others, growing stronger and stronger, until it reaches the minds of all men." I know this to be true. Enthusiasm and positivity are infectious. I feel very lucky to live in this area. I think if Kendal had a beach with stranded starfish the stranger would have stopped to help and would soon have been joined by other kind hearted souls.

Liz Grove, Kendal Baha’i Group