A GREAT STORY

People  always say how mean kids can be, never how nice they can be. This story  will either make you cry, give you cold chills or just leave you cold, but  it puts life into perspective!

At a  fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children,  the father of one of the school's students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all that attended. After  extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question. "Everything God 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  God's plan reflected in my son?" The audience was stilled by the query.  The father continued. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity to realize the  Divine Plan presents itself and it comes in the way 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 will let me play?" Shay's father  knew that the boys would not want him on their team. But the father understood that if his son were allowed to play it would give him  much-needed sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys  on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for  guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own  hands and said, "We are 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 up to bat  in the ninth  inning." In the  bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still  behind by three. At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be 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. Shay was scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would  the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture 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 moved 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 toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the  ball and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the  soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman.  Shay would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the  pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far  beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to  first, run to first" Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first  base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone  yelled, "run to second, run to second!" By the time Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball  to the second baseman for a tag. But the right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw the ball high and far over the  third baseman's head. Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of  him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the  opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base,  and shouted, "run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both  teams were screaming, "Shay Run home!" Shay ran home, stepped on home  plate and was cheered as the hero for hitting a "grand slam" and winning  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 the Divine Plan into this world."

   And now, a  footnote to the story: We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail  without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages regarding  life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar and sometimes the obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public  discussion of decency is too often suppressed in school and the workplace. If you are  thinking about forwarding this message, you are probably thinking about  which people on your address list aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive  this type of message. The person  who sent this to you believes that we can all make a difference. We all have dozens of opportunities a  day to help realize God's plan. So many seemingly trivial interactions  between people present us with a choice; do we pass along a spark of the  Divine-love that God gives to us every day? Or do we pass up that  opportunity and leave the world a bit colder in the process?