A young child walks along a beach, and on this beach hundreds of starfish wash upon the shore doom to dry out and die. But when this child walks along and sees one he picks it up and throws it back into the ocean, giving it another chance at life. Every morning this child, on his way to wherever he is going, picks up another starfish and tosses it back into the ocean. He does this every day for a while, day by day walking along the beach tossing another starfish back in. One day an old man who has been seeing him do this for quite some time comes up to the child and asks "Why are you doing this, hundreds and hundreds of starfish wash up on this shore every day and you can never save all of them. Why even bother, you are not making a difference." And the child looked at the man and looked down at the ground and sees a starfish at his feet. He picked up that starfish and tossed it back in the ocean and said "It mattered to that one."
