Can You Really Make a Difference?

A young couple from Oregon decided to go to Spain for their honeymoon.  They had an extremely long day and their  flight arrived late at night.  Exhausted from their travel, they immediately checked into their hotel and went directly to bed.

During the night a violent storm erupted.  When they awoke the next day, they had their coffee on the balcony.  Below they saw the terrible damage the storm caused during the night.  The husband suggested they get dressed and walk along the beach.

As they walked down the beach, they saw damaged palm trees and enormous amounts of debris strewn all over; however, the one thing that amazed them most were the hundreds of sea creatures that had been washed up on the shore.

As they continued their walk, they noticed in the distance a man dancing.  As they got closer to him, they realized he wasn’t dancing; rather he was bending over and picking up starfish which he then tossed back into the sea.

As the young couple approached him, the young groom asked, "Excuse me sir, what are you doing?" 

 

The elderly Spaniard replied, "Last night, as you can see, there was a terrible storm and all these starfish were cast up on the shore. It’s early now, 7:00 am, but by 10:00 am when the sun is high in the sky, these starfish will all die unless they are put back into the ocean."

The young man looked back down the beach, then up the beach.  There were literally thousands of starfish on the sand.  He looked back at the old Spaniard and said "Senor, there is no way you are going to get all these starfish back in the ocean in the next few hours." 

The old man bent down, picked up another starfish, threw it back into the ocean and said, "I know." 

 

"Then why in the world are you doing this if you know it won't make a difference?" asked the groom.

The old man stooped down, picked up another starfish and tossed it back into the ocean.  Then he turned to the young groom, smiled and said, "Because I know it definitely made a difference for that one."