A woman walked along a seashore, picking up starfish stranded by a lowered tide, and throwing them back into the ocean. A man approached and asked why she bothered. “Consider,” he said, “the thousands of beaches with millions of stranded, dying starfish. How could you possibly hope to make a difference?”

The woman bent down, picked up a starfish and tossed it into the water. "Made a difference to that one," she said.