It Does Make A Difference

One day an old man was walking along
the beach in the early morning hours,
and he noticed the tide had
washed thousands of starfish
up on the shore.

Ahead in the distance he spotted a boy
who appeared to be gathering
up the starfish, and one by one,
tossing them back into the ocean.

He approached the boy and asked him
why he spent so much energy
doing what seemed to be
a complete waste of time.

The young boy replied,
"If these starfish are left out
here like this, they will
surely die."

The old man looked out as far as
he could see and responded,
"You can't possibly rescue and
save all of them. What difference
is throwing a few back going to make anyway?"

The boy held up the starfish he had
in his hand and said,
"It's sure going to make a lot of
difference to this one!"