Two Choices

A friend forwarded the following story to me. These are not my thoughts and I'm not sure where it originated. I thought it worth sharing with all of you.

At a fundraising dinner fo 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 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 inspite of his handicaps . . . ."

"I approached on 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 borad 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 fo the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and playd 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 bases loaded, the potential winning run was on the base and Shay was scheduled to be next at bay. 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 Sahy'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 teammates. Everyone from the stand adn 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 adn startled. Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to base.'"

"By the time Shay rounded towards secomd base, the right fielder had the ball. The smallest guy on thier team who had his first chace to be the hero for his tea. 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 runner ahead of him circled the bases toward home. All were screamin, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the way Shay!'"

"Shay reached thrid base becuase the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning him in the direction 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 thier feet screamin, '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 tearfullly embrace her little hero of the day!

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

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My thoughts:

I believe that wise man is right. But what if it isn't just the society that is judged by how it treats it's least fortuante amongst them. What if we are judged by how we treat those least fortunate that cross our life's path?

Where would you be in the story? What choice would you make?

Given the chance would you have let Shay play?

Would you have been willing to forfeit the game by letting Shay bat?

Would you have lobbed the ball softly or thrown it wide?

Would you have cheered Shay home?

I like to think that I would have done all of those things. Maybe on my better days I would. But on my bad days, would I make that choice? I hope so.

This month is Autism Awareness month. Autism is an odd disease. It covers a broad range of diagnoses. Some are the ones you can readily identify. The child who doesn't want to be touched and lines things up over and over and over. Some are more subtle with conversations just being strange or off. It depends on the degree of the illnesses and the diagnosis itself. You may or may not go, "Something is off."

When you recognize it, do you rise to the occassion and act with compassion?

What about when you don't? Do yo act compassionately then?

Laura Story has a song out with the song starting, "Everyone needs compassion. A love that's never failing. Let mercy fall on me."

What if we recognized that need in everyone? I wonder what our world would be.