Author Unknown

One day, a woman sat in her bungalow by the sea, reflecting on the terrible state of the world. She was overcome by the magnitude of the problems facing the world and her inability to do anything that might make a difference. To get her mind off the state of the world, she decided to take a walk along the beach.

As she walked, she noticed, in the distance, a young woman dancing. How wonderful, she thought, to be young and not overwhelmed by the magnitude of the world’s problems. To have joy in one’s heart and to feel like dancing!

As she got closer, she saw that the young woman was picking things up and throwing them into the sea.

Again she thought of how great it would be to be carefree and feel like skipping rocks over the water.

As she got closer still, she saw that the young woman was picking up starfish and, running down to the water’s edge, throwing them over the breaking surf, into the water. Curious at this action, the older woman walked up to the younger and asked if the young woman would mind telling her what she was doing. The young woman replied, “I’m throwing starfish into the sea to save them.” The older woman looked at the young woman like the younger was daft and asked; “Don’t you feel that is futile? How can that possibly make a difference? There are miles of beach and thousands of starfish.” The young woman reached down, picked up another starfish, ran to the water’s edge and pitched it over the breaker. She came back to the older woman and said, "It made a difference to that one."