The Starfish Story

Most people have probably seen this story, as it’s been floating around the internet for at least a decade. It was, in fact, posted at the very first web site I ever built. But I noticed tonight that it’s not on any of my sites now, so I must make amends and add it to my archive here, and maybe those of you who never did see it will find it here.

. .. .

A young man is walking along the ocean and sees a beach on which thousands and thousands of starfish have washed ashore. Further along he sees an old man, walking slowly and stooping often, picking up one starfish after another and tossing each one gently into the ocean.

“Why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?,” he asks.

“Because the sun is up and the tide is going out and if I don’t throw them further in they will die.”

“But, old man, don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it! You can’t possibly save them all, you can’t even save one-tenth of them. In fact, even if you work all day, your efforts won’t make any difference at all.”

The old man listened calmly and then bent down to pick up another starfish and throw it into the sea. “It made a difference to that one.”