Starfish Story

A little girl was walking along a beach, where thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. She picked up every starfish she saw, and threw it back into the ocean.

People watched her in amusement.

An old man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can't save all these starfish! Furthermore, don't you know that starfish are pests?"

The girl was crushed. A while later, she bent down, picked up another starfish and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean.

Then the little girl replied:

"Well, I made a difference to that one, even if it is not sentient and cannot appreciate my actions! And who cares what the ultimate consequences of my actions are? As long as I feel good about myself, that's alright"

Inspired, the old man joined the little girl throwing starfish back into the sea.

The next day, another terrible storm hit the sea, and most of the starfish who had been thrown back into the ocean washed up again. Having never read about Sisyphus, since she spent so much time throwing starfish into the sea, the little girl kept at it.

The old man, picking up a poisonous starfish by mistake, was pricked by its thorns and died of an allergic reaction.

Thereafter, all the coral died, and the oceanic ecosystem was wiped out. Meanwhile, since she spent so much time throwing starfish into the sea, the little girl kept failing her exams and couldn't get a job in the local factory, and became a maid in other people's countries.