At a fund-raising 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 late, 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,
stumbling 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. They 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.