The Young Man and the Starfish:Making a Difference

Once upon a time there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his journal writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.
One day he was walking along the shore. As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore, picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

"I guess I should have asked, why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

"The sun is up, and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach, and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said, "It made a difference for that one."

[edited at 6.56pm, 31st aug: it was an email i received recently, titled "voted the best email of the year". i read it, the pictures of less privileged people were plastered all over the email. well taken ones really. i am sure it's just me, bcos after reading the email over a few time, i got pissed off big-time. in fact i was trembling with anger. the general message of the email was to be thankful that we are so much fortunate that other people..and tat's it?? put in pictures of poverty, hunger etc so we can compare how lucky we are, slap our own butts in gratefulness and be off our way..TATS IT?! anyway i googled to find out more abt the issues the email depicted, and discovered there were actually links that we can click on to help.

http://www.theliteracysite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=6
http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1
http://www.porloschicos.com/PorLosChicos.NET/index_english.htm
http://www.oneclickonemeal.com/
http://www.hungerfighters.com
http://children.care2.com/
http://www.bhookh.com/
http://www.helpuu.com/about.htm
http://www.freeflour.com/
http://www.freepoverty.com/
http://www.freerice.com/
http://www.helpthirst.com/
http://www.hungrychildren.com
http://www.savetheworldwithmusic.com/
http://www.worldhunger.org/contributefood.htm
http://www.definition-of.com/

we might not be able to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger etc that's going on in the world. but we can still do whatever little we can to help rite? u dun have to be filthy rich to change the world..doing watever u can whether it's big or small scale, ultimately it still makes a difference.]