Maybe it's good for us to shed a tear!!!
Subject: : Pause for thanks
-Hi - I try to keep from passing on stuff but this, THIS is great. It
may bring a tear to your eye, but check it out, I think you'll be glad
you did.
In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school
that caters to learning disabled children.
Some children remain in Chush for their
entire school career, while other can be
main-streamed into conventional schools.
At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father
of a Chush child delivered a speech that would
never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated
staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection
in my son, Shay? Everything God does is done
with perfection. But my child cannot understand
things as other children do. My child cannot
remember facts and figures as other children
do. Where is God's perfection?"
The audience was shocked by the question,
pained by the father's anguish and stilled by
the piercing query.
"I believe," the father answered, " that when God
brings a child like this into the world, the
perfection that he seeks is in the way people react
to this child."
He then told the following story about his son Shay:
One afternoon, Shay and his father walked past a park
where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball.
Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?"
Shay's father knew that his son was not at all
athletic and that most boys would not want him on
their team. But Shay's father understood that if
his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable
sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of
the boys in the field and asked if Shay could play.
The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates.
Getting none, he took matters into his own hands
and said, "We are 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 up to bat in the ninth
inning."
Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly.
Shay was told to put on a glove and go out to play
short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by
three.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team
scored again and now with two outs and the basses
loaded with the potential winning run on base
Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team
actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away
their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew
that it was all but impossible because Shay didn't
even know how to hold the bat properly, let
alone hit with it. However, as Shay stepped up to
the plate, the pitcher moved up a few steps to lob the
ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to
make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and
missed. One of Shay's team-mates came up to Shay
and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher
waiting for the next pitch.
The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss
the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in,
Shay and his teammate swung at the ball and together
they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily
have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would
have been out and that would have ended the game.
Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a
high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first
baseman.
Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to
first."
Never in his life had Shay run to first. He scampered
down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time
he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He
could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who
would tag out Shay, who was still running. But the right
fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions were, so
he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman's
head.
Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shay
ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him
deliriously circled the bases towards home.
As Shay reached second base, the opposing short stop
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 ran behind him screaming,
"Shay run home." Shay ran home, stepped on home
plate and all 18 boys lifted him on their shoulders
and made him the hero, as he had just hit a "grand slam"
and won the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling
down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of
God's perfection."
Funny how this is so true!
Funny how simple it is for people to trash different ways
of living and believing and then wonder why the world is
going to hell.
Funny how people can send a thousand 'jokes' through
email and they spread like wildfire, but when one starts
sending messages regarding life choices, people think
twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass
freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of
morality is too often suppressed in school and the
workplace.
Funny how when you go to forward this message (if you
choose to forward it), you will not send it to many on
your address list because you're not sure what they
believe, or what they will think of you for sending it
to them. Funny how we can be more worried about what other
people think of us than what we think of ourselves.
BLESSINGS TO YOU!
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