"It mattered to that one"

On our first night at the beach, Jackson ran down the boardwalk and all the way to the water. When we got to him, he was inspecting a slimy sea creature that he deemed was a jellyfish. They were all over the sandy shore. After a google search, I discovered it is a sea hare or "inkfish". Jackson was amazed at how the creature inked on him in purple. I wasn't about to touch the slimy things! He walked up and down the beach "saving" them and letting them swim. He didn't care if they "inked" on him. It was cute and it reminded me of a story I've heard before...


There was a man who would take a walk every morning along the beach. As he walked, he would pick up starfish and throw them back into the ocean. He would do this all down the beach on his entire walk. The man would walk back up the beach on the way home probably picking up many of the same starfish and throw them, yet again, back into the ocean. He did this same routine day after day.

A neighbor watched this man do this each day. The tide would come in and so would the starfish. The man would throw them in the ocean. They would wash back up on the shore.

The neighbor watching could not stand it anymore. Finally, one day the neighbor asked the man why he spent so much effort throwing the starfish back into the water. "They just get washed back up on the shore again. What does it matter?"

The man reached down, picked up a starfish and threw it into the ocean. "It mattered to that one!"