Posted by Ted (152.163.207.82) on January 31, 2001 at 06:24:29:
In Reply to: The Starfish posted by Daniel on January 31, 2001 at 05:18:27:
A man walked down the beach towards the waters edge.
When he saw an old woman bending down, picking something up, throwing it into the sea and then moving on to repeat the action, he stopped to watch her for a while.
Wondering what she was up to he walked closer to see thousands of little starfish left stranded by the tide in the hot sun. The beach stretched for miles as did the dying starfish.
"There are thousands, maybe millions, he said to the old woman, you can't make a difference"
She bent down slowly, picked one up and tossed it back into the ocean.
"I did for that one" she said.
"I realize that. But you're not charging the dying ones for the chance to be thrown back in even though you know you won't help them."