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.
"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
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.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance and, getting none, he took matters into his own hands 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."
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 outfield.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, the boys were faced with the decision to 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 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 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 took the ball and turned and threw the ball on a
high arc to right field, far beyond the reach of the first baseman.
Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered
down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
By the time Shay rounded first base, the right fielder had the
ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and intentionally threw the ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously
circled the bases toward home. Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!"
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming,
"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."
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 think twice about sharing.
The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our
schools and workplaces.
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, and leave the world a little bit colder in the
process?
Originally posted by elvendreamgirlIt brought tears to my eyes as I read it. We all need more stories like this. Everyone grumbles about the all the bad that goes on in the world that it's so easy to overlook all the good. Stories like this affirm my faith in human kind. People are good and kind and caring. Never forget the good in our lives.
Thanks for posting this, mokko.
Nikki
Originally posted by PeachyYeah, for him to like it, the kid would have been called out at first
Yeah, you too buddy, you better do something about your wet dreams..
base and then everyone yells derisively at the kid who goes home
all hope broken, thats the kind of ending this sicko would rather read.
Then his prebuilt image of the human race would have been
fulfilled, just like his own image of himself.
Really nice story. Glad I read it.
Things like this do go on in the world, but, unfortunately, people view this as 'boring', and would rather hear all the bad things going on around.
As for whether it's true or not, i'd be inclined to believe it is. It would be a sorry state of affairs for everyone if such a thing had to be invented due to a lack of true stories of a similar nature, but I have seen such things done before.
In one cricket game i played in when I was 10 (batted in pairs for 4 overs each, losing runs for getting out), an opposition team fielded a player who wasn't very good, and was very uncoordinated. The first 3 bowlers bowling overs at the poor guy tried their hardest to get him out, and did so about 5 times (even though it was a friendly). The fourth bowler bowled slowly underarm to him so the guy could hit the ball. It is one of the most sporting acts I have seen myself.
I dont know if i'd have done the same in his position, as i was pretty competitive, buti certainly appreciate what my teammate did now im older.
Just shows there are things like this all over the world, we just have to look for them, seeing as people would rather bombard us with pain and suffering.
Edit: 1 non-sub rec from me (will proper rec it when i subscribe next month).