While walking along a beach, a man saw in the distance what looked like someone dancing. As he approached, he realized that it was actually a young man, running, leaning down, picking something up and then gently throwing it far into the ocean.
As he got closer, he saw thousands of starfish that the tide had washed up onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. The young man was picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back into the ocean.
After watching the seemingly futile effort, he said to the young man, "There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to get to all of them. There are simply too many. You can't possibly save enough to make a difference."
The young man smiled as he continued to pick up another starfish and toss it back into the ocean.
"Well, it made a difference to that one," he replied.
The older man shook his head at the impossible optimism of the young man, and then turned away and walked home.
That night, he sat for a long time, thinking of the young man, and determined that the young man was really affecting the world and taking action to make a difference. Something that the older man would like to do. That night he slept fitfully. In the morning, he awoke, went down to the beach and found the young man again. Then together, they went along the beach shore tossing starfish back into the ocean.
-- Author Unknown
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