I love to share this story with my students. I cannot remember where and when I first read it, but it doesn’t matter. I am taking the liberty to recreate it.

     Baby sea turtles hatch on the beach under a nest of sand and each other. They must make the treacherous voyage across the beach to the ocean within moments of hatching. Many do not make it.

     A young boy happened to come upon these adorable creatures making this challenging trip. With his heart full of care and concern, he gently picked them up one by one and left them by the water’s edge. He left feeling quite satisfied that he had saved them from a difficult journey.

     Unknown to this kind, well-intentioned boy, he had done more harm than good. You see, for the baby sea turtles to develop and survive the ocean, they must make this risky trip on their own across the daunting beach. For as much as many of us would love to spare them any suffering, it is only in surviving through it that they have the needed strength to flourish in the ocean.