The Starfish Story based on the story by Loren Eisley

I awoke early, as I often did, just before sunrise, to walk by the ocean's edge and greet the new day.  As I moved through the morning dawn, in the distance I saw a youth, bending and reaching and flailing arms, dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.  As I approached, I realized that the youth was not dancing, but rather bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea.  I asked the you the purpose of the effort. "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves," he relied.  "When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back into the sea."  I surveyed the vast expanse of beach - starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation.  The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I countered, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save.  Surely, you cannot expect to make a difference."  The youth paused briefly to consider my words, bent to pick up a starfish, and threw it as far as possible.  Turning to me he simply said, "I made a difference to that ONE."