A STORY WITH A MESSAGE


Thank you to my friend Vickytoria, for sending me this to share with everyone. It is a story that brought tears to my eyes as I read, and one whose message will always stay with me.....


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 to all of you is: Would
you have made the same choice?

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. 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,
physically and mentally handicapped 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 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 if Shay
could play, not expecting much. 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 put on a team shirt with abroad smile
and his Father had 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 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 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, 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 '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, recognizing the
other team 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 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 game would now be over, but 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 head of the first baseman,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 ran that far but 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 smallest guy on their team, who had a chance
to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown
the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the
pitcher's intentions and 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, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and
turned 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
those watching were on their feet 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.

Shay didn't make it to another summer and died that winter, having
never forgotten being the hero and making his Father so happy and
coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of
the day!

AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:
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 to brighten the day of those with us the least able, 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.

May your day be a Shay Day,sunny today, tomorrow & always!


I love the message in this story, it is loud, clear and important!

I went back to work today, and holy crappers I don't know that my body was quite ready for that yet! I made it through the day though, and I'll get over this soon. Tonight I must fast and I hate fasting! Tomorrow morning I go for my yearly blood testing for cholesterol. I'm on meds for it and probably will be for life. Anyhoo it's a pain in the ass adventure once a year, it could be worse obviously. I don't mind needles, I just hate fasting and giving gallons of blood all at the same time, it makes me dizzy......and the worse part is having to get up at such an ungodly hour on a day off (Sunday) to race to a clinic so I can get there pretty much first, or I'll be there for hours in a line-up and that means fasting for even MORE hours.

So, I'm taking it easy tonight and just doing some R&R at home. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Take good care of each other....and be NICE to each other. Until next time, PEACE be yours.

Love Jude