Rich to Plain Text and maybe leave off the attachments. At least I
did not see them but hope you do. Bob
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Solomon" <jim.solomon@shieldintl.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2019 2:17 PM
Subject: Fwd: One Of The Best E-Mails I have ever Read--Not Political
At the end you will have 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 o
f 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.??
MAY GOD BLESS EVERYONE WHO??DECIDES TO PASS THIS ON!!
[X][cid:92C7BA3D-D78B-4D6A-A886-7CE5D27F5B0F]
[cid:92C7BA3D-D78B-4D6A-A886-7CE5D27F5B0F]
[cid:06c4ab3d-6142-8442-3fd6-f4ac16e47c16@yahoo.com]
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