The Power of One

Every evening a young writer spent a couple of hours at the beach just as the tide was ebbing. The sound of the waves and the sight of the vast ocean helped him gather his thoughts. And every evening he noticed an old man standing at the edge of the water. The man would bend constantly bend down to pick up something from the wet sand and throw it into the water.

After observing him for a few days, the writer decided to move closer to see what the old man was doing. As he moved closer he saw thousands of starfish which were trapped in the wet sand when the tide receded. The old man was picking up the starfish one at a time and throwing them back into the ocean.

He watched the old man for a few minutes wondering why he bothered doing this - after all how many could he save anyway. The writer went up to the old man and said ‘Sir, the tide brings in thousands of these starfish which get caught in the sand and cannot get back into the water. You can save just a few. Why are you wasting your time? What difference does it make?’ The old man bent down, picked up a starfish, threw it back into the water and said ‘It made a difference to that one.’

The next evening saw the old man at his task as usual. Only this time the young writer was standing by his side picking up the starfish and throwing them back into the water one by one.

Believe in the Power of One. Many Ones make a Million!