An old man and his grandson were walking along a deserted beach at sunset. The little boy became concerned about all the starfish that had washed up on the beach. He bent down and, one by one, began to return them to the safety of the waves. "What do you think you are doing?" said the man gently to his grandson.
"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean, " said the little boy. "It's low tide now and all these starfish have been washed up onto shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die up here."
"I understand, " replied the old man. "But there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't possibly get all of them. There are simply too many. And this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down the coast. Can't you see that you can't possibly make a difference?"
The little boy smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he turned to his grandfather and said, "I made a difference to that one!"
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