Didn't Want To Be The Only One With A Tear In My Eye

[Cooker]

Two Choices

What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, 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,who was mentally and physically
disabled 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 I had walked past a park
where some boys Shay knew were
playing baseball. Shay asked,
'Do you think they'll let me play?'

I knew that most of the boys would
not want someone like Shay
on their team, but as a father I
also understood that if my 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..

I 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 a team shirt. I watched with a small
tear in my eye and warmth in my
heart. The boys saw my joy at my 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 I 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 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, recognizing that
the other team was 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 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.

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 first baseman'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 the base.

By the 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 for his team.

He could have thrown the ball to the
second-baseman for the tag, but he
understood the pitcher's intentions so
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 because 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, 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.

He died that winter, having never forgotten being the hero and making me so happy,and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE TO THIS STORY:

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 hesitate.

The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message Well,the person who sent you this believes that 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
those opportunities 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 least
fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:

1. Delete

2. Forward


May your day, be a Shay Day.

 

[geebee]

Thank you.

 

[hensylee]

that is a lovely story and I have sent it on, however yours will reach far more than mine ever did. Here's hoping we will all take a hard look and then put it into practice. Bless you for reminding us.........

 

[hall]

I also received this email and sent it on.

 

[Ross]

I've received this particular one many times. It's a very cold cruel world we live in, so anything remotely like this, is something special all in itself.

 

[CThrock]

I too have received this story many times. It's worth passing it around.

 

[geebee]

I read a story a while back that told of 2 challenged teams playing baseball. The person telling the story said he was upset because the game ended in a tie. However, all the kids on both teams starting cheering and shouting: "Everybody won, everybody won".

 

[Eva]

Very touchy story! thanks for sharing

 

[Marguerite53]

Quite a story, Cooker. Thanks for sharing.

Here's another one from last spring ... must be something about baseball....
There's a photo somewhere, but I can't seem to find it..


Quote :
"PORTLAND, Ore.: With two runners on base and a strike against her, Sara Tucholsky of Western Oregon University uncorked her best swing and did something she had never done, in high school or college. Her first home run cleared the center-field fence.

But it appeared to be the shortest of dreams come true when she missed first base, started back to tag it and collapsed with a knee injury.

She crawled back to first but could do no more. The first-base coach said she would be called out if her teammates tried to help her. Or, the umpire said, a pinch runner could be called in, and the homer would count as a single.

Then, members of the Central Washington University softball team stunned spectators by carrying Tucholsky around the bases Saturday so the three-run homer would count ? an act that contributed to their own elimination from the playoffs.

Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman, the career home run leader in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky.

So Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky's legs, and she put her arms over their shoulders. The three headed around the base paths, stopping to let Tucholsky touch each base with her good leg.

"The only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt," Tucholsky said. "I told her it was my right leg and she said, 'OK, we're going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg,' and I said 'OK, thank you very much.'"

"She said, 'You deserve it, you hit it over the fence,' and we all kind of just laughed."

"We started laughing when we touched second base," Holtman said. "I said, 'I wonder what this must look like to other people.'"

"We didn't know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run," Wallace said Wednesday. "That makes the story more touching than it was. We just wanted to help her."

Holtman said she and Wallace weren't thinking about the playoff spot, and didn't consider the gesture something others wouldn't do.

As for Tucholsky, the 5-foot-2 right fielder was focused on her pain.

"I really didn't say too much. I was trying to breathe," she told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday.

"I didn't realize what was going on until I had time to sit down and let the pain relax a little bit," she said. "Then I realized the extent of what I actually did."

"I hope I would do the same for her in the same situation," Tucholsky added.

As the trio reached home plate, Tucholsky said, the entire Western Oregon team was in tears.

Central Washington coach Gary Frederick, a 14-year coaching veteran, called the act of sportsmanship "unbelievable."

For Western Oregon coach Pam Knox, the gesture resolved the dilemma Tucholsky's injury presented.

"She was going to kill me if we sub and take (the home run) away. But at the same time I was concerned for her. I didn't know what to do," Knox said.

Tucholsky's injury is a possible torn ligament that will sideline her for the rest of the season, and she plans to graduate in the spring with a degree in business. Her home run sent Western Oregon to a 4-2 victory, ending Central Washington's chances of winning the conference and advancing to the playoffs.

"In the end, it is not about winning and losing so much," Holtman said. "It was about this girl. She hit it over the fence and was in pain, and she deserved a home run."

 

[Karlynn]

I have a mentally disabled older brother. He's 8 years older than me. He's about 5 feet tall, wears big thick glasses, a large nose, going bald, and doesn't talk much - a pretty unusual looking man. There's no doubt when you see him that he's mentally disabled. He is the biggest blessing in my life. Without him, I would not have met or married the man I did, had the children I had, and now grandchildren. I've spent my life immersed in the disabled community due to the work that my parents involved us all in when I was growing up.

My first teaching job after I was married was for a Special Ed cooperative that worked with inclusion and I had to do a "formality only" interview with the principal of the high school that the classroom I would be working in was housed. This principal was a bit resentful that he really didn't have a say in whether or not this classroom was housed in his school. I was 22 and sat down for the interview very intimidated and somewhat shy, but tried not to show it. After what had been the "normal" teacher interview questions he asked one that opened a can of worms that he most likely regretted. "Tell me Mrs. Anderson - how can you justify the fact that the children you teach cost the tax payers 3 times more to educate than the amount to educate the normal students in this school, especially when your students will never go on to be productive members of society?"

This was when I didn't care what this man thought of me. I began by telling him I had a mentally disabled brother and went on, at length, to explain what that had meant and continues to mean to my life. I finished by telling him that he was "damn lucky" (Yep - this 22 year old said those words) that his "normal" students were going to have an opportunity to grow in ways that books would never even begin to accomplish that MY students were going to give them.

This principal represents a small percentage of people in this world and they just don't "get it". 95% of the people who meet my brother never disappoint me with their caring and genuine compassion.

This picture was this past Christmas Eve. It's Uncle Bill, with his grand niece and niece-in-law.