Had no idea starfish were even that common.. (used to see them in tidal pools when I was a kid in California)
For five miles they stretched along the beaches, a gruesome line of dead starfish.
Fishermen and bird-watchers at Pegwell Bay near Sandwich, Kent, discovered a "carpet" of thousands of the creatures lying on the sand just above the water line.
And on the beach at nearby Sandwich Bay, thousands more were photographed by Tony Flashman.
That reminds me of something I've seen in a couple of emails that always makes me think a little. If you've seen this in endless forwards my apologies but its a good story.
"There was a man who would take a walk every morning along the beach. As he walked, he would pick up starfish and throw them back into the ocean. He would do this all down the beach on his entire walk. The man would walk back up the beach on the way home probably picking up many of the same starfish and throw them, yet again, back into the ocean. He did this same routine day after day.
A neighbor watched this man do this each day. The tide would come in and so would the starfish. The man would throw them in the ocean. They would wash back up on the shore.
The neighbor watching could not stand it anymore. Finally, one day the neighbor asked the man why he spent so much effort throwing the starfish back into the water. "They just get washed back up on the shore again. What does it matter?"
The man reached down, picked up a starfish and threw it into the ocean. "It mattered to that one!"
To much of the world, the efforts of some people don't seem to matter. It just looks futile. It just seems to be a whole lot of effort and not much to show for it. In fact, it just drives some people crazy.
To the starfish being washed up on the beach and left stuck in the sand, there is a different perspective. They are kept alive because of the effort of just one person.
Many days, I am the starfish washed up on the beach. I am grateful for someonewho care enough to keep throwing me back in the ocean. Some days repeatedly! A few days I get to be the one walking on the beach. I pray that I never stop reaching down to pick up starfish.
1000's of Starfish Dead (pic) 
