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Think Harder about choices.
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Two Choices
What
would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line,
there isn't one... Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made
the same choice?
At a fundraising dinner for a school
that serves children with learning disabilities, 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, who was
mentally and physically disabled 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 I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing
baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that
most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a
father I also understood that if my son were allowed to play, it
would give him a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to
be accept! ed by others in spite of his handicaps.
I
approached on e 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. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my
heart. The boys saw my joy at my 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 I
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 ba! se 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 th e 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.
B
y 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 runn! ers 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 me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother
tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
a little foot note to the story:
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 every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.
May your day, be a Shay Day
