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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 is
> 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 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 (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. His Father watched with 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 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 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 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 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 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.
>

How sweet, that's really nice of them to do...
But I doubt people(atleast a majority) I RL would actully do that for a disabled child, let alone even play.

I would do the same thing those boys did though. smile