(You may have heard this one before but I think it's a cute story)

Once upon a time, there was an old man, who walked to the ocean every morning to do his writing. He usually walked along the shore before he began working.

One morning, after a large storm had passed, he found the beach littered with starfish, stretching both ways as far as the eye could see.

As he was walking, the old man noticed a small boy getting closer in the distance.

As the boy walked, he stopped every so often and as he got closer, the man could see that he would occasionally bend down, pick up an object, and throw it in the ocean.

Finally, as the boy grew closer, the man called out, "Good morning! May I ask what exactly you are doing?"

The boy paused, looked at the man, and said "I'm throwing starfish back into the ocean. The waves washed them up onto the beach, and they can't return to the sea on their own. When the sun comes out, they will die unless I throw them back in the water."

The old man replied, "But there must be hundreds of starfish here! I'm afraid that you won't be able to make much of a difference."

The boy once more bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and tossed it as far as he could back into the ocean. Then, he turned back to the man, smiled, and said, "It made a difference to that one!"

adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)