I Once Heard A Story Of A Man Who Was Walking ...

I once heard a story of a man who was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf’s edge and the beach. Back and forth this person 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 stuck by the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached, the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf. As he came up to the person he said, "There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can’t possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and picked up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He then turned back to the man and said, "It made a difference to that one."