Heroic

The old man's eyes found mine as he cocked his head.
There was a pause as he selected what riddle next to ask.
His voice rang out like that of a church bell as he said
The words that would be the denouement of his task:

"What figure makes the difference in the number 1,000,000?
Of this I give you no clue. On your own your must decide."
I carefully contemplated. Was it the one, the zero--NONE?
I mused at length so that my answer wouldn't provoke him to chide.

After considering, I replied: "The number one, I wot."
He smirked and snuffed, exclaiming: "What! Without the zeros?
Nothing will exist if you seek it not;
To BELIEVE in the heroic makes heroes.

"All the figures are significant, to a degree, in the million.
That is the point to all this...lecturing, my friend--
That without the zeros behind it, one million would be one.
But without that one, NO number would stand in the end."