One day, a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking up and gently throwing things into the ocean.
Approaching the boy he asked: “Young man, what are you doing?”
The boy replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
The man laughed to himself and said, “Do you realize there are miles of miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference.”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the surf, then smiling at the man, he said:
“I made a difference to that one.”