once, on ancient
Earth, there was a human boy walking along a beach . there had
just been a storm, and starfish had been scattered along the
sands . the boy knew the starfish would die, so he began to fling
the fish to the sea . but every time he threw a starfish, another
would wash a shore . an old Earth man happened along and saw what
the child was doing .
he called out,
"boy, what are you
doing?"
"saving the starfish
!" replied the
boy.
"but
your attempts are useless, child ! every time you save one,
another one returns, often the same one ! you can't save them
all, so why bother trying ? why does it matter, anyway ?"
called the old man.
the boy thought about this for a while, a
starfish in his hand;
he answered, "well,
it matters to this
one."
&& then he flung the starfish
into the welcoming sea .
