At a fund raising 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
Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was still by the query. And the father continued.
"I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes in 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 and,
here were some boys whom Shay knew who 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 was 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 (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 the 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 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 estatic 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 the next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance of winning the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew a hit was 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 recongized that the other team
was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life
and thus, the pitcher 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
and tossed 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 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 be the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first base man'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 second base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball.
The right fielder saw that the smallest guy on their team
now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the sceond baseman for the tag,
but he undertood the pitcher's intentions and threw the ball
high and far over the third baseman's head.
Shay ran towards third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him
circled the bases towards home.
All were screaming,
"Shay Shay Shay! All the way Shay!"
Shay reached third base as 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, and was cheered as the hero
who hit the grand slam and won the game for the team
"That day," said the father 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 his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrce her little hero of the day!"
***
i believe that everyone can make a difference
every single day, we have thousands of opportunities
to make a difference in another person's life
the trival interactions between each other seem small
but they present us with a choice to either
pass a little spark of love and humanity
OR
pass up the chance to do so
leaving the world a little colder
so what would you do today?
"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
Where is the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was still by the query. And the father continued.
"I believe that when a child like Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comes in 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 and,
here were some boys whom Shay knew who 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 was 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 (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 the 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 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 estatic 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 the next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance of winning the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew a hit was 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 recongized that the other team
was putting winning aside for this moment in Shay's life
and thus, the pitcher 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
and tossed 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 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 be the end of the game.
Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first base man'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 second base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball.
The right fielder saw that the smallest guy on their team
now had his first chance to be the hero for his team.
He could have thrown the ball to the sceond baseman for the tag,
but he undertood the pitcher's intentions and threw the ball
high and far over the third baseman's head.
Shay ran towards third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him
circled the bases towards home.
All were screaming,
"Shay Shay Shay! All the way Shay!"
Shay reached third base as 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, and was cheered as the hero
who hit the grand slam and won the game for the team
"That day," said the father 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 his father so happy, and coming home and seeing his mother tearfully embrce her little hero of the day!"
***
i believe that everyone can make a difference
every single day, we have thousands of opportunities
to make a difference in another person's life
the trival interactions between each other seem small
but they present us with a choice to either
pass a little spark of love and humanity
OR
pass up the chance to do so
leaving the world a little colder
so what would you do today?
