A touching Story

This is a beautiful story that should be shared. What would you do? You make the choice!
Don't look fora punch line; There isn't one! Read it anyway. My question to all of you is: Would you have made thesame choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serveslearning disabled children,the father of one of thestudents delivered a speech that would never beforgotten by all who attended. After extolling theschool and its dedicated staff, he offered a question:"When not interfered with by outside influences,everything nature does is done with perfection. Yet myson, 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 childlike Shay, physically and mentally handicapped comesinto the world, an opportunity to realize true humannature presents itself, and it comes, in the way otherpeople treat that child."Then he told the followingstory: Shay and his father had walked past a park where someboys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked,"Doyou think they'll let me play?" Shay's father knewthat most of the boys would not want someone like Shayon their team, but the father also understood that ifhis son were allowed to play, it would give him amuch-needed sense of belonging and some confidence tobe accepted by others in spite of his handicaps. Shay's father approached one of the boys on the fieldand asked if Shay could play, not expecting much. Theboy looked around for guidance and said, "We're losingby six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. Iguess he can be on our team and we'll try to put himin to bat in the ninth inning." Shay struggled over to the team's bench put on a teamshirt with a broad smile and his Father had a small tear in his eye and warmth in his heart. Theboys saw the father's joy at his son being accepted.In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scoreda few runs but was still behind by three. In the topof the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played inthe right field. Even though no hits came his way, hewas obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and onthe field, grinning from ear to ear as his fatherwaved to him from the stands. In the bottom of theninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with twoouts and the bases loaded, the potential winning runwas on base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat. At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give awaytheir chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay wasgiven the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all butimpossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to holdthe 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 forthis moment in Shay's life, moved in a few steps tolob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be ableto make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swungclumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a fewsteps forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. Asthe pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit aslow ground ball right back to the pitcher. The game would now be over, but the pitcher picked upthe soft grounder and could have easily thrown theball to the first baseman. Shay would have been outand that would have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over thehead of the first baseman, out of reach of all teammates. Everyone from the stands and both teams startedyelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never inhis life had Shay ever ran that far but made it tofirst base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyedand startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towardssecond, gleaming and struggling to make it to secondbase. By the time Shay rounded towards second base,the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy ontheir team, who had a chance to be the hero for histeam for the first time. He could have thrown the ballto the second- baseman for the tag, but he understoodthe pitcher's intentions and he too intentionallythrew the ball high and far over the third-baseman' shead. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as therunners ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the WayShay" Shay reached third base, the opposing shortstop ran tohelp him and turned him in the direction of thirdbase, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third"As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams andthose watching were on their feet were screaming,"Shay, run home! Shay ran to home, stepped on theplate, and was cheered as the hero who hit the "grandslam" and won the game for his team. That day, said the father softly with tears nowrolling down his face, the boys from both teams helpedbring a piece of true love and humanity into thisworld. Shay didn't make it to another summer and died thatwinter, having never forgotten being the hero andmaking his Father so happy and coming home and seeinghis Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of theday! AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all sendthousands of jokes through the e-mail without a secondthought, but when it comes to sending messages aboutlife choices, people think twice about sharing. Thecrude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely throughcyberspace, but public discussion about decency is toooften suppressed in our schools and workplaces. If you're thinking about forwarding this message,chances are that you're probably sorting out thepeople on your address list that aren't the"appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.Well, the person who sent you this believes that weall can make a difference. We all have thousands ofopportunities every single day to help realize the"natural order of things." So many seemingly trivialinteractions between two people present us with achoice: Do we pass along a little spark of love andhumanity or do we pass up that opportunity to brightenthe day of those with us the least able, and leave theworld a little bit colder in the process? A wise man once said every society is judged by how ittreats it's least fortunate amongst them.

Warm Regards

Murli (Member of This Group)