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Shay Day

Started by Adios, July 27, 2007, 05:23:56 AM

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Adios

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 fund raising 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 (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 giv en 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 star ted 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 ba se, 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
andworkplaces.

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!


(I found this and thought I would share.  The story has a great point.)

LMNO

Oh, man, this thread has a big, fat target on it.




But, in an honest response, the story didn't reflect "true human nature".

It reflected Compassion despite human nature.

Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.)

The troll potential of a sentimental tale like that, true, or not could provide serious lulzertainment.

Sentimentality needs to be ramped up tbh.

Just sayin'
Synaptyclypse Generator Publishing Sect, POEE International Resource Center

Adios

You both make excellent points, while it is a good story, it comes from teh internetz and is therefore to be suspected. but teh lulzability for a troll is potentially limitless.

Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.)

Couldn't the kid have congenital herpes too?
Synaptyclypse Generator Publishing Sect, POEE International Resource Center

Triple Zero

QuoteIf 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.

.. and so you thought of us!

how touching ;-)

how about if we make the story several pages longer and include a gay lovestory with the pitcher (including romantic roses and moonlight and shit), where the father gets to make an important moral decision of his own homophobia versus his own humanity and the chance for his boy to "belong" some more?
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

Adios

Oh shit, laughing my guts out.  :evil:

Wigwam Jones

Kinda weird, I read this newspaper story yesterday.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007707310303

QuoteAlec's at bat
Young Farmington Hills baseball player with no hits all season smashes a good one

July 31, 2007

BY JEFF SEIDEL

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

Alec Kraft walks up to home plate in excruciating pain. Each step brings a surge of pain through his ankles and knees, like he's being stabbed with hot needles.

Alec, 12, of Farmington Hills has arthritis, one of the cruel side effects of Crohn's disease. He missed a couple of games this baseball season when he was in the hospital getting IV treatments. There are days when the disease flares up so badly that he has to use a wheelchair.

Kind of spooky, actually.
"A beneficent providence has dimmed my powers of sight, so that, at a distance of more than four or five yards, I am blissfully unaware of the full horror of the average human countenance." - Aldous Huxley

Payne

Obviously just an alt of shay.

Young basball players: Trolling real life for 63 years

Nast

Love? LOVE? LOVE???!!!

How can love exist on the intarnets?

Anyway, shame on those children.
By biasing the game for Shay, they proved that in society's eyes, Shay is not an equal. And if he is not an equal, is he lesser, or is he greater?
He clearly cannot be perceived as greater, because the children expressed pity on him, and made the game purposefully easier for him. And what kind of society perceives members who have "handicapabilities" *cough cough snortle* lesser and inferior?

ANSWER:

A LOVELESS ONE

As you can see, my logic is undeniable.
"If I owned Goodwill, no charity worker would feel safe.  I would sit in my office behind a massive pile of cocaine, racking my pistol's slide every time the cleaning lady came near.  Auditors, I'd just shoot."

Triple Zero

undeniably short-sighted. but you were joking, i presume.
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

Nast

Quote from: triple zero on August 03, 2007, 03:44:34 PM
but you were joking, i presume.

*Sigh*
I just...
I just don't know anymore.  :cry:
"If I owned Goodwill, no charity worker would feel safe.  I would sit in my office behind a massive pile of cocaine, racking my pistol's slide every time the cleaning lady came near.  Auditors, I'd just shoot."

Triple Zero

Quote from: Pope Naughty Nasturtiums on August 04, 2007, 04:01:34 AM
*Sigh*
I just...
I just don't know anymore.  :cry:

- "neither do I .."

- "but .. but i'll always be your friend!"

- "JESUS, SUSAN I HOPE NOT"
Ex-Soviet Bloc Sexual Attack Swede of Tomorrow™
e-prime disclaimer: let it seem fairly unclear I understand the apparent subjectivity of the above statements. maybe.

INFORMATION SO POWERFUL, YOU ACTUALLY NEED LESS.

Sabotage

QuoteWould you have made the same choice?

mmm..

Quote
Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one.

Quote
so many seemingly
trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice

QuoteA wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's
least fortunate amongst them.

Your daily mind Sabotage

Chairman Risus