An email send by a friend of mine... It really touched my heart.. Please read itTwo Choices
What would you do?....you make the choice. Don'tlook for a punch line, there isn't one. Read itanyway. My question is: Would you have made thesame choice?At a fund raising dinner for a school that serveslearning-disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never beforgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered aquestion: "When not interfered with by outsideinfluences, everything nature does is done withperfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn thingsas other children do. He cannot understand thingsas other children do. Where is the natural order ofthings in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.The father continued. "I believe, that when a childlike Shay, physically and mentally handicappedcomes into the world, an opportunity to realizetrue human nature presents itself, and it comes inthe way other people treat that child."Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a park wheresome boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shayasked, "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 toplay, 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 thefield 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, witha 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 hitwas all but impossible because Shay didn't evenknow 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'slife, 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 andmissed. The pitcher again took a few step sforward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball an dhit 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 havebeen 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 andboth teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay everrun that far, but he made it to first base. Hes campered down the baseline, wide-eyed andstartled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run tosecond!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardlyran 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 thethird-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 short stop 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 histeam.
"That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both team shelped 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 littlehero of the day!AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:
We all send thousands of jokes throughthe e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and ofte no bscene 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 thepeople 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 helprealize 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
May your day, be a Shay Day
