An old man was out for a walk along the beach near his house early in the morning. Ahead of him, he saw a young girl who was walking at the edge of the beach. From time to time, she would stop and pick up something, and throw it into the sea.
His curiosity aroused, the old man hurried to catch up with her and saw that she was picking up starfish that had been swept on to the beach by the tide and throwing them back into the sea.
He asked her, “Why are you doing that?”
She explained, “When the sun comes out, they’ll all die. I’m putting them back where they can live.”
“But this beach goes on for miles, and millions of these starfish are washed up every day,” he countered. “What difference can your efforts possibly make?”
She threw a starfish into the sea and smiled at him. “It made a difference to that one.”
Without a sense of caring, there can be no sense of community.
– Anthony J.