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 accepted by others in spite of his handicaps.



I 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. 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 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.

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 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 me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!



AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE 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 every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.



You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward

Whatever your choice: May your day, be a Shay Day.


















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thanks herb

 

there needs to be more of that type of stuff happening in this world today

 

handymanherb your the man! that is a great story

 

Thank You kind Sir

 

I'm probably going to get flammed for this but I have a different view of this story. I think what they did was a great miservice to that boy. While the intentions were good and it was great to include him in the game giving him a fake success in the end was more detrimental than good. The road to hell is paved with good intentions and this is one of those times. Handicapped people fight everyday to be accepted and perform in everyday life and things like this are a set back as it demeans all of their REAL accomplishments. Fake success is not something to be celebrated and society has really got to stop celebrating mediocraty. While the "story" teaches kids that they should accept everyone and give everyone a chance it also demeans those that have disabilities and have made amazing accomplishments on their own merits. How would he feel when he learned the truth that they LET him score? Let down....I think he'd feel worse than if he wasn't even allowed to play as that would be a deeper scar. Now this story here is the real deal IMO:

Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams - CBS News Video

Sure the coach put him on the team for that last agme but there was no guarentee he was getting in and when he did the other team played defense on him and he did something so amazing that everyone in that building will be touched by it forever.

 

I think you're missing the point. The point of the story is about the one time in the kid's life where he gets to see what it feels like to be a winner. He never will be a winner and even if he's handicapped he probably knows that. That being said there's always the special olympics and programs like that.

 

Awsome story!

Now duster seriusly man, Shay never new what happened. As far as he is concerned he made a differnce in the outcome of the game and it made him happy. Isn't that the idea for kids who have dissabilities like Shay and struggle all of there life to make them happy??? If only for a little while??? While I understand what you are saying about he pusification of America for kids that have no problems, they should not get any special treament. But for the ones that are born that way and can't help it, any chance to make their day a little brighter is great.

 

I've worked a few special Olympics events, now this kids were just happy they could do some things the regular kids could do, most knew they never compete with regular kids, but for that one day they did there best and were happy to be there win or lose.

What was really great was that sometimes the losers were happier for the winners than the winner was at winning and all went home with a smile on their face, our hour an a half ride home was a happy one, even though no one in our group came in first at any thing, it's was still first in their hearts.