I awoke early just before sunrise to walk by the ocean's edge. In the distance, I noticed a youth bending, reaching, flailing his arms, and dancing on the beach, no doubt in celebration of the perfect day soon to begin.

As I approached, I realized that the youth was bending to sift through the debris left by the night's tide, stopping now and then to pick up a starfish and then standing, to heave it back into the sea.

I asked the youth the purpose of the effort. He replied "The tide has washed the starfish onto the beach and they cannot return to the sea by themselves. When the sun rises, they will die, unless I throw them back to the sea."

As the youth explained, I surveyed the vast expanse of beach, stretching in both directions beyond my sight. Starfish littered the shore in numbers beyond calculation. The hopelessness of the youth's plan became clear to me and I said, "But there are more starfish on this beach than you can ever save before the sun is up. 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."

I left the boy and went home, deep in thought of what the boy had said. Then I returned to the beach and spent the rest of the day helping the boy throw starfish into the sea.