What would you do? You make the
choice! Don't look for
a punch line; There isn't one!
Read it anyway.

My question to all of you 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 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."

Shay struggled over to the
team's bench, put on a team
shirt with a broad smile, and
his Father had 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 '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 creaming,
"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:

Well, 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?

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