The Starfish Parable

While wandering a deserted beach at dawn,
stagnant in my work, I saw a man in the
distance bending and throwing as he walked
the endless stretch toward me. As he came
near, I could see that he was throwing
starfish, abandoned on the sand by the tide,
back into the sea. When he was close
enough I asked him why he was working so
hard at this strange task. He said that the sun
would dry the starfish and they would die. I
said to him that I thought he was foolish.
there were thousands of starfish on miles
and miles of beach. One man alone could
never make a difference. He smiled as he
picked up the next starfish. Hurling it far
into the sea he said, "It makes a difference for
this one."

I abandoned my writing and spent the morning throwing starfish.

Isaac Asimov