Would you have made the same choice?

From: Gurpreet Dayal <Bobby.Dayal@Sun.COM>
Reply-To: Bobby.Dayal@Sun.COM
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Subject: [Fwd:Decisions of opportunity]
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2006 13:10:52 -0800

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WOULD YOU HAVE MADE THE SAME CHOICE?

You make the choice. Don't look for a punch line. There isn't one. Read
it anyway.

My question to you is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising 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 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.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay
could play.

The boy looked around for guidance and, getting none, he took matters
into his own hands 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."

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
outfield.

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, 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 'cause 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 in 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 towards Shay.

As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball
right back to the pitcher.

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 took the ball and turned and threw the ball on a
high arc to right field, far beyond the 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 rounded first base, the right fielder had the ball.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he
understood the pitcher's intentions and intentionally threw the ball
high and far over the third-baseman's head.

Shay ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously
circled the bases toward home.

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 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."

AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE T O 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 think twice about sharing.

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 on your address list that 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
that opportunity, and leave the world a little bit colder in the
process?