Two Choices
What would you do? ... you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line,
there isn't one, but please do read it anyway.
My question is: Would you have made the same choice?
At a fundraising 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
(not expecting much) if Shay could play. 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."
Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile,
put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his eye
and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his son being
accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few
runs but was still behind by three. 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 because 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 that
the other team was 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 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. 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 first baseman's head,
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 run that far, but he 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 the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right
fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their team who now had his
first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball
to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's
intentions so 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 because the opposing shortstop ran to help him
by turning 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 the spectators,
were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! 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. He 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 hesitate.
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 in your address book who 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
those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?
A wise man once said, that every society is judged by how it treats
it's least fortunate amongst them.
You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward
May your day, be a Shay Day.