- In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to Learning
Disabled children. Some children remain in Chush
for their entire school
career, while others can be mainstreamed into conventional
chools. At a Chush fundraising dinner, the father of a Chush child
delivered a speech that
would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated
staff, he cried out,
"Where is the perfection in my son Shaya?
Everything God does is
done with perfection. But my child cannot
understand things as other
children do. My child cannot remember facts and
figures as other children
do. Where is God's perfection?"
The audience was shocked by the question, pained
by the father's
anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I
believe," the father answered,
"that when God brings a child like this into the
world, the perfection is in
the way people react to this child."
He then told the following story about his son Shaya:
One afternoon Shaya and his father walked past a
park where some boys
Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked,
"Do you think they will
let me play?" Shaya's father knew that his son was not
at all athletic and
that most boys would not want him on their team. But
Shaya's father understood
that if his son was chosen to play it would give
him a comfortable sense
of belonging.
Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if
Shaya 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."
Shaya's father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to
put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of
the eighth inning, Shaya's team scored a few runs but
was still behind by three.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya's team
scored again and now
with two outs and the bases loaded with the
potential winning run on
base, Shaya was scheduled to be up.
Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this
juncture and give away
their chance to win the game? Surprisingly, Shaya
was given the bat.
Everyone knew that it was all but impossible
because Shaya didn't
even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone
hit with it. However,
as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher
moved a few steps to
lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be
able to make contact.
The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily
and missed. One of
Shaya's teammates came up to Shaya and together the held the bat
and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took
a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya.
As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung at the bat and
together they 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.
Shaya 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, "Shaya, run to first. Run to first." Never
in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered
down the baseline wide-eyed
and startled. By the time he reached first base,
the right fielder had the
ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second
baseman who would tag out
Shaya, who was still running. But the right
fielder understood what the
pitcher's intentions were, so he threw the ball
high and far over the third
baseman's head. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second."
Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead
of him deliriously circled the bases towards home.
As Shaya reached second base, the opposing short
stop ran to him,
turned him in the direction of third base and
shouted, "Run to third."
As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams
ran behind him screaming, "Shaya run home."
Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18
boys lifted him on
their shoulders and made him the hero, as he had
just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly with tears now
rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's
perfection."
Funny how simple it is for people to trash
spirituality and then wonder
why the world is going to hell. Funny how you can
send a thousand 'jokes'
through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but
when you start sending
messages regarding spiritual values, people think
twice about sharing.
Funny how when you go to forward this message, you
will not send it to
many on your address list because you're not sure
what they believe, or what
they will think of you for sending it to them. But
maybe they can handle it.
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