A touching story for our soul!

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 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 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.

Thanks Bro SBH .. i enjoyed reading this post again .. brought tears to my eyes .. in our time here we must always try to care for the the under privileged and less fortunate .. for we shall never pass this way again ..

Glade your enjoyed it ......with tears!

thanks Bro SBH

Here's another touching clip I just saw...

Thanks, my dear Bro SS for a very touching clip ... the times and memories shared with friends is to be treasured and honored as once it is passed it will be passed and only etched in our memories .. at times forgotten .. we must always treasure family and friendships and those values that bind and bond us , sacred to us .. cheers ... have a good weekend game .. :-)

very touching indeed SBH. more often than not we forget how fortunate the lot of us are to be as well off as we are in this life

Wah, KNS, read it while working, then tears roll down and my colleague saw and ask what happened... sigh... anyway, good and touching story... cheers

loved the story! had to fight back tearts too! thanks bro SBH!

i have three beutiful boys..2, 4 and 8 yr old. i hardly give them good night hug n kiss when chanse them to bed ..
but after reading yr story , from now on, i will make sure i give them a big HUG and good night KIss every night.

Thanks for sharing Bro.

wonderful story.....bring tears to my eyes

Great story.... sometimes we are so busy with work and making $$$$.... look like got to ease back the trottle and spend tme to take care of your loves ones and your friends........

I too am handicap and have been golfing with better players like slinger. Never once did he deliberately missed his birdie and par putts to let me win the match. ~sigh~

Just kidding.

On a serious note, the story has indeed touched my heart to a large extend. I feel that we should not only show humanity to the disabled, but also to the entire human race that is less fortunate.

Need I say further?

Titu

a little humility, a little understanding, and a big heart can go a long way in touching the lives of others. our society teaches too much individualism and too much selfishness, often i travel abroad and i see the foreign cultures and i really feel disappointed about singapore. I do feel that we lack graciousness in the midst of our very rushed and hurried lives.

Was in aussie for a week and i realized how much i missed the country, how friendly the people were and how relaxing it was to drive. the moment i came back, driving became a defensive affair...

haiz..

Top story SBH, sorry if i digressed.

eiji wrote:

a little humility, a little understanding, and a big heart can go a long way in touching the lives of others. our society teaches too much individualism and too much selfishness, often i travel abroad and i see the foreign cultures and i really feel disappointed about singapore. I do feel that we lack graciousness in the midst of our very rushed and hurried lives.

Was in aussie for a week and i realized how much i missed the country, how friendly the people were and how relaxing it was to drive. the moment i came back, driving became a defensive affair...

haiz..

Top story SBH, sorry if i digressed.

Eiji, a country evoles too, the 1st world countries were once barbaric....given time I am sure Singaporean will be more gracious.

Aus also have their bad side.... they just have a much wider range, stay there for 10 years, seen a lot on both sides.

SG (or most neighboring Asian countirs) all almost identical due to the conditions they grew up in....so behavior range much narrower...almost predictable, mostly revolving around one goal....