Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a child going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this child went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was struck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached, the child continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.

As he came up to the child he said, "You are wasting your time. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The child looked at the man. He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"