meaningful story

It is said that people won't care how much you know until they know how much youcare. At times, doing the logical thing may not be the right thing to do forthe moment. To be loving supersedes being right.

Subject: Two ChoicesWhat would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, thereisn't one. 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, thefather of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgottenby all who attended. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, heoffered a question: "When not interfered with by outside influences, everythingnature does is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things asother children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where isthe 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 andmentally handicapped comes into the world, an opportunity to realize true humannature 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 wereplaying baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they'll let me play?" Shay's fatherknew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, butthe father also understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would givehim a much-needed sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted byothers in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked (not expectingmuch) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losing bysix runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team andwe'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 teamshirt. 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 theeighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. Inthe 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 thegame and on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him fromthe 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 andShay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to win thegame?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all butimpossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much lessconnect with the ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing that theother team was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life, moved in afew steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least make contact. Thefirst pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took afew 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 couldhave easily thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out andthat would have been the end of the game.Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's head, out ofreach of all team mates.
Everyone from the stands and both teams startedyelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever runthat 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, Shayawkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. Bythe 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 forhis team. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, buthe understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ballhigh and far over the third-baseman's head. Shay ran toward third basedeliriously 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 byturning 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 ontheir feet screaming, "Shay, run home! Run home!" Shay ran to home, stepped onthe plate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the grand slam and won the gamefor his team. "That day", said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "theboys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and humanity into thisworld".Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having neverforgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and coming home andseeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero 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 aboutlife choices, people hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freelythrough cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressedin our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you'reprobably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the"appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sentyou this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands ofopportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." Somany 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 thoseopportunities 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 leastfortunate amongst them.You now have two choices:1. Delete2. Forward May your day, be a Shay Day.