At a fund raising dinner for a school
that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students
delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended. After
extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: "When
not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is done with
perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other children do. He
cannot understand things as other children do. Where is the natural order of
things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, physically
and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true
human nature presents itself, and it comes, in the way other people treat that
child."
Then he told the following story:
Shay and his father had walked past a
park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you
think they'll let me play?" Shay's
father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their
team, but the father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it
would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be
accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.
Shay's father approached one of the
boys on the field and asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. The boy
looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing by six runs and the
game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we'll try to
put him in to bat in the ninth inning."
In the top of the ninth inning, Shay
put on a glove and played in the right field. Even though no hits came his way,
he was obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning
from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of
the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases
loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay was scheduled to be next
at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat
and give away their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the
bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even
know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the
plate, the pitcher, recognizing the other team putting winning aside for this
moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could
at least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung
clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the
ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit
a slow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but
the pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown the ball
to the first baseman.
Shay would have been out and that
would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right
over the head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both
teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in
his life had Shay ever ran that far but made it to first base. He scampered
down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to
second, run to second!"
Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly
ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to second base. By the
time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the
smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for
the first time.
He could have thrown the ball to the
second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and he
too intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the
bases toward home. All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way
Shay" Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned
him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run
to third" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those
watching were on their feet were screaming, "Shay, run home! Shay ran to
home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grand
slam" and won the game for his team.
That day, said the father softly with
tears now rolling down his face, the boys from both teams helped bring a piece
of true love and humanity into this world. Shay didn't make it to another
summer and died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making
his father so happy and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrace her
little hero of the day!
AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS
STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes through
the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages
about life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and
often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about
decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you're
thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting
out the people on your address list that aren't the "appropriate"
ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes
that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every
single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many
seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do
we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that
opportunity to brighten the day of those with us the least able, and leave the world
a little bit colder in the process?
A wise man once said every society is
judged by how it treats its least fortunate amongst them. You now have two
choices:
1. Ignore
2. Share It
May your day be a Shay Day sunny today
& always .......
No comments:
Post a Comment