The Starfish – a short story

A terrible storm arose. The hurricane raged. The sea was churned and yard high waves broke deafening loud on the beach.

After the storm slowed down, the sky cleared up again. On the beach were innumerable starfish, which were thrown by the current to the beach.

A small boy walked along the beach, gently picking up starfish after starfish, throwing them back into the sea.

There came over a man. He went to the boy and said, «You stupid boy! What you do there is completely pointless. Do not you see that the whole beach is full of starfish? You can never throw them all back into the sea! What you are doing does not change the least!»

The boy looked at the man for a moment. Then he went to the next starfish, lifted it gently from the ground and threw it into the sea. To the man he said, «For this one it will make a difference!»

Source (German)

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