This one is worth sharing...........

[mhayes]

I recieved this in an Email from my Dad today, it's not overly religious, it just kind of puts things in perspective.

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 schools. 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, Shay? 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 that he seeks is in the way people react to this child." He then told the following story about his son Shay: One afternoon, Shay and his father 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 his son was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shay's father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shay's father approached one of the boys in 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." Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly. Shay was told to put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base.> Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shay bat? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold he bat properly, letalone hit with it. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. One of Shay's teammates came up to Shay and together they 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 Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay and his teammate swung at the ball 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. 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 run to first. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed ands 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 Shay, 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." Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing short stop 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 ran behind him screaming, "Shay run home." Shay 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 this is so true! Funny how simple it is for people to trash different ways of living and believing and then wonder why the world is going to hell. Funny how people can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when one starts sending messages regarding life choices,people think twice about sharing. Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of morality is too often suppressed in school and the workplace. Funny how when you go to forward this message (if you choose to forward it), 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. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what we think of ourselves. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to make a difference or just hit delete. Keep reaching for that level of perfection.

[DrZaius]

Thanks Mike, really.

[SARGE]

And the preacher said, "AMEN".

[bob]

Sounds like the right liberal thing to do.

It's very beautiful when humans can come together like that. Makes you wonder if things are really as bad as you think they are. With so much hate and sadness in the world, there is alway that (as someone else I know would say - but not with the same intentions in mind as me) 5% of humanity that really deserve to exist. If only there were more people like that. Thank you for sharing that.

[PhiloVance]

Just a great story!

[mhayes]

I'm glad the five of you enjoyed the story, it really put things into perspective for me. I was however hoping it would stimulate a little more discussion on some of the points mentioned in the latter part of the story.