A boy stands alone on a beach, surrounded by 5,000 starfish that have washed ashore.
One at a time, the boy starts picking up starfish and throwing them back into the ocean. Eventually, an older man joins the boy on the beach. Confused, the man approaches the boy.
The man asks the boy why he's doing what he's doing. The boy says he's saving the starfish's lives. The man says there must be 5,000 starfish on the shore. There's no way one boy can make a difference for all of them.
The boy quietly picks up another starfish and chucks it into the water.