The Boy and the Starfish
A
man was walking along a deserted beach at sunset.
As he walked he could see a
young boy in the distance, as he drew nearer he noticed that the boy
kept
bending down, picking something up and throwing it into the water.
Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.
As the man
approached even closer, he was able to see that the boy was picking up starfish
that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time he was throwing them
back into the water.
The
man asked the boy what he was doing, the boy replied,
"I am throwing these
washed up starfish back into the ocean, or else they will die through lack of
oxygen. "But", said the man, "You can't possibly save them all,
there are thousands on this beach, and this must be happening on hundreds of
beaches along the coast. You can't possibly make a difference."
The boy looked down, frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another
starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied,
"I made
a huge difference to that one!"
~Author Unknown~
Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.
The boy looked down, frowning for a moment; then bent down to pick up another starfish, smiling as he threw it back into the sea. He replied,