STARFISH ON THE BEACH

A young boy was walking across the beach when he met an old man who was throwing something into the breaking waves. He came closer to him and tried to see what it was. He saw there were hundreds of stranded starfish on the sandy beach and he was throwing them into the sea one by one. He was confused but kept on watching the old man for a while. After some time, he couldn’t stand and asked what he was doing. The old man looked into his eyes and smiled. Then he turned to the sea, threw one more and said he was tossing the starfish on the beach back to the sea.

The curious young boy was determined to learn why he was doing that meaningless thing. “Why?” He asked. “When the sun rises, the starfish die if they are still on the beach,” the man answered. The young boy found it ridiculous and said there were millions of starfish on the beaches around the world and he couldn’t make a difference.

The old man took a starfish in his hand and said, “It makes a difference for this one,” and threw it back to the sea. He got one another and said, “It matters to this one,” and threw it back to the sea.

Adapted from Live Life Happy Website