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The Starfish Flinger by Loren Eiseley, PhD

As the old man walked along the beach at dawn, he noticed a young man ahead of him picking up starfish and flinging them into to the sea.
Finally catching up with the youth, he asked why he was doing this.
The answer was that the stranded would die if left until the morning
sun.

“But the beach goes on for miles and there are millions of starfish,”
countered the other. “How can your effort make any difference?“

The young man looked at the starfish in his hand and then threw it to
safety in the waves.

“It makes a difference to this one,” he said.