all the difference in the world

An old man was going for a walk on the beach, when he noticed a little boy feeding a thin, shaggy looking dog with bits of bread.

He went up to the boy and asked him why he was sharing his bread with the dogs.

The little boy answered, "Because they have nothing. No home, no family, and if I don’t feed them they will die."

“But there are homeless dogs everywhere," the old man replied. “So your efforts don’t really make a difference”

The little boy looked at the dog and stroked him. “But for him, for this little dog, it makes all the difference in the world.”