Early one evening, an old man was walking alone along the edge of seashore. From a distance, the old man could see a young boy busily tossing objects into the sea. As the old man drew closer, he could see that the young boy was picking up starfish from the sand. One by one, the boy was tossing each starfish back into the ocean. As the old man looked about himself, he could see that the shoreline was covered with many thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the sea'’ tide.

"What is it you are doing?" inquired the old man.

"Why, I am throwing these starfish back into the sea so that they may live," said the boy.

"But there are so many of them lying on shore . . .," said the old man. "Do you really believe your time and effort will make any difference?"

As the young boy tossed the next starfish he was holding into the sea, he looked up at the old man and said:

"It made a difference to that one."