"Clean Beach" is not just an initiative of the Environmental Protection Authority. Two students from Haifa, Shir Pearl and Nofer Belizovsky, do this on their own initiative in the most simple, beautiful and inspiring way, simply because they care.
On the morning of Saturday 21/12/19, a beautiful day, I went for a walk with my partner and the dog, because really, this is not a day to spend at home.
While we were walking on the beach, I noticed two young women collecting trash and cleaning the beach. On the way back, I saw them still collecting. My curiosity didn't allow me to ignore anymore. I approached them, asked them, what are they doing? and why?
"Let it be clean. We're going for a walk anyway, so it's our pleasure to pick up the dirt."
It turns out that these two beautiful girls, literally, returned for a weekend in Haifa and felt the need to do something about it. They took bags and went to the beach. They reminded me of "The Starfish Story".
The story of the starfish / author unknown
Early in the morning, just before sunrise, an old man went for his morning walk on the ocean beach..
In the distance he noticed a young boy who seemed to be dancing alone in front of the bay. When the old man approached the boy, he realized that the boy was not dancing in front of the bay, but was bending down to pick out the remains that the night tide had left behind. The boy stopped, picked up a starfish and stood up to throw it back into the sea.
The old man asked the young man the purpose of his actions.
"The tide has washed the starfish to the shore and they cannot return to the sea on their own, answered the boy. When the sun rises, they will die if I do not throw them back into the sea."
The old man surveyed the vast expanse of beach that stretched in both directions out of sight. Countless starfish would scatter on the beach. The hopelessness of the boy's plan was clear.
Said the old man: "Young man, don't you realize there are far more starfish on the beach than you can save by sunrise? You don't really expect to make a difference here!"
The boy paused a little and considered the old man's words, then he bent down and picked up another starfish, throwing his life into the sea as far as possible. So he turned to the old man and said: "I have changed this starfish!"
It turns out that I wasn't the only one who was intrigued, other people saw them "cleaning" approached them and took bags from them and joined in the "small is big" act. Maybe the municipality should adopt the idea of Shir and Nofer and place collection bags at the entrance to the beach. Whoever wants will take a bag and do his bit. And we all enjoy a cleaner beach.
Shir Perl and Nofer Belizovsky, clean the beaches of Haifa in an inspiring way (Photo: Gilad Stein) 
Shir Perl and Nofer Belizovsky, clean the beaches of Haifa in an inspiring way (Photo: Gilad Stein)
Each of us has the ability to influence and make the world a loving place to live. Everything we do - even a tiny one, which seems imperceptible, adds something to the good balance in the world.
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