It made difference to that one

wsj2000

While walking down the beach, a man saw someone in the distance leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the ocean.

As he came closer, he saw thousands of starfish the tide had thrown onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed a young boy picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.

After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said, “There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to save all of them. There are simply too many. You can’t possibly save enough to make a difference.”

The young boy smiled as he picked up another starfish and toss it back into the ocean. “It made difference to that one.”