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 a few boys nodded approval, why not? So he took
matters into his own hands 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 a broad 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 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 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 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 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 second base.

By the time Shay started towards second base,
the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on
the! ir team, who had a chance to be the hero for
his team for the first ti me. 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 second base deliriously as the
runners ahead of him circled the bases toward home.
All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way
Shay."

As Shay reached second base, the opposing
shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the
direction of third base,! shouting, "Run to third!
Shay, run to third."

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both
teams and those watching were on their feet,
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
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 send thousands of jokes through the
e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes
to sending messages about life choices, people think
twice about sharing. 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 copying and forwarding this
message, chances are that you're probably sorting
out the people on your address list that aren't the
"appropriate" ones to receive this type ! of
message.

Well, the person who posted this (which is me) 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 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.

You now have two choices:

1. Ignore

2. Copy and Forward