Two Choices.

**Oneironaut Zero** · 04-20-2006 09:37 AM

Just wanted to share this email that I got earlier today.

=================================================

This is worth the 2 minutes it takes to read it...

Two Choices

What would you do? You make the choice! Don't look for a punch line; there isn't one! Read it anyway. My question to all of 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, 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 if Shay could play, not expecting much. 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 put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his Father had 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 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, recognizing the other team 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 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 game would now be over, but 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 head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but 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 second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time.

He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and 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, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third! Shay, run to third" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams and those watching were on their feet 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.

Shay didn't make it to another summer and 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 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 to brighten the day of those with us the least able, 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

**wombing** · 04-20-2006 12:30 PM

right on brother

IZ · 04-20-2006 12:32 PM

This is a good message and I can assure you that people that are brought into this world like this do effect the actions and thoughts of someone on how to make that special person feel.....special, or in some cases normal.

I should know, my sister is mentally dissabled and many people don't understand why I'm the way I am and how I treat people so differently in the way people treat others. So I kinda owe my lifestyle to my sister Samantha.

pj · 04-20-2006 12:50 PM

Choices. That's the crux of it all.

Philosophy is pretty much about why and how we make the choices we do. Yeah, yeah... I know that somebody's going to jump in here and talk about epistimology and metaphysics and whether we or anything even exists and all that - and thus whether choices even mean anything. In the end, however, it is all about choices. Beliefs are choices. Choosing not to believe is a choice too.

From Wikipedia:

The term philosophy comes from the Greek word "Φιλοσοφία" (philo-sophia), which means "love of wisdom".[/b]

And what is wisdom? Your story seems to cover that nicely, IMHO.

**Gwendolyn** · 04-20-2006 12:55 PM

That was a beautiful story. Having witnessed very few of these kinds of events (unfortunately), it makes me really sad to know that this type of thing only happens once in awhile. But when it does, it's like a little miracle, beautiful and perfect.

**boldtypespark** · 04-21-2006 06:42 PM

Originally posted by Oneironaut
Forward

Word 8)

**xcrissxcrossx** · 04-21-2006 08:09 PM

its a nice story, but it seems as if their is too much detail. i would have rather read a summary of it instead of reading every little bit.

Then again thats how i feel about a lot of chain e-mails.

**Dangeruss** · 04-22-2006 02:55 PM

I had to scroll down before finishing the story because it was building up as though it were about to break my heart. I'm gald it had kind of a happy ending though.

That was a pretty awesome post, capital-O. Most of the spam I get in my inbox or on my bulltein board is either stupid crap or poorly-made propaganda. e.g:

1- FORWARD THIS OR YOU WILL DIE/BE LONELY FOREVER/DIE/NEVER BE KISSED/DIE
or
2- LOOK AT HOW BAD ANIMAL CRUELTY IS! (followed by a bunch of pics of fked-up looking animals, some dating back to the 50s)

So, if I actually got a spam that had something meaningful to say about the human condition, chances are it would be misidentified as the latter and deleted. Why is it that people only think they have something important to say when they don't?

pj · 04-22-2006 04:56 PM

Originally posted by Dangeruss
Why is it that people only think they have something important to say when they don't?

(pj climbs up on pedistal and clears throat... looks around... shrugs and steps back down.)

**Howie** · 04-22-2006 06:26 PM

I would have benched the pitcher.

JK.
That is a great story.
I also have a story that happened at our own school.
This is a more complicated but similar story. If they could all have the hoooray at the end.

We had an athlete who on the basketball court was promising to bring the Newbury Black Nights some recognition his senior year.
He and his family had an unfortunate car accident which left him??? I am not sure how to phrase this.... He was now lacking in many areas. But he was far from paralysed or retarded. He played his senior year. Although his playing time was limited, when he stepped out on the court, the stands went wild. To me it was sad. The other team (provided they were winning) would let him score at will. I believe our coach used him as leverage at times. Pathetic.
But more sad than that, is that I believe (we will call him Joe) new of his handicap and felt and new of what could have been.
On the basketball court he felt like a king and that is great. But in certain circumstances the parenting of these children is a very difficult thing.
Who can deny Joe this chance. Yet who also recognizes that these stories are not as beautiful as they are often made up to be.
It became later that he wanted to play more. This putting pressure on the coach who has a job to do. But the people in the stands see what you and I just read above.
In turn other teams would not play their marque athletes against us do to the fact that they too would have to be appeasing to the empathy of the crowds.
This compiles some serious choices and difficult decisions.

**Pensive Patrick** · 04-23-2006 01:48 PM

A nice story, which shows that people can be nice through a combination of 'textbook' morals, peer pressure, and genuine good nature, but the father needs to re-evaluate his speech.

The 'true form of human nature' (whatever that is) is not shown through this story.

His assumption was based on his opinions, and conclusions which had no evidence to accompany them.

**Oneironaut Zero** · 04-23-2006 02:47 PM

Glad everyone enjoyed the story.

Great thoughts on it, also.

And to crisscross, I think all of the detail did a good job of building up atmosphere. Empathy was the main objective of the message and it's hard to really put yourself in someone's situation, for greater understanding, without that level of detail IMO.

pj · 04-23-2006 07:01 PM

This story added to my growing conviction to change an online presence I am responsible for. It has been a newsblog with a fairly wide-ranging libertarian focus, and I've been doing it for years.

I have decided to stop doing "negative" news. There is more than enough reporting, blogging and commentary on what's wrong with the world. There is precious little about what is right and good.

An interesting discovery... in TWO HOURS of searching for items this morning, I was able to find ONE "mainstream" news story that was about something positive... in this case, a children's soccer league in Iraq.

That was a revelation for me. At least here in the US, we are absolutely saturated with bad news and angry voices. I don't want to be part of that anymore. Life is just too short to spend focused on misery, fear and anger.

So thank you. If this had arrived in my inbox, I wouldn't have read it. (I think chain emails are the scourge of the digital world.) Your presentation of it here prompted me to read it, and it has left an impression.

**Aphius** · 04-24-2006 08:17 AM

Originally posted by Pensive Patrick+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pensive Patrick)</div>

The 'true form of human nature' (whatever that is) is not shown through this story.

His assumption was based on his opinions, and conclusions which had no evidence to accompany them.[/b]

I'm not really an expert on the matter, but that's a pretty odd statement. You say the true form of human nature is not shown in the story, but you yourself said
<!--QuoteBegin-Pensive Patrick
(whatever that is)

It may be just me but you can't say something wasn't shown if you don't know what it is. You can only assume what you believe to be right, and still only present questionable evidence to justify the conclusions you reach as you believe the father did.
I say it is questionable because people will question it and it is impossible to show without doubt what human nature is, it may even be the case that there is no such thing, we have base desires that we all share but the other driving factors may be different for each person individually.

Though as I said, I'm no expert.

**Pensive Patrick** · 04-24-2006 01:28 PM

Well, Aphuis, that's my point. There is no specific 'true form of human nature' and therefore it is not shown here. Sorry for the confusion.

**nina** · 04-24-2006 03:09 PM

*chants* Ru-dy!......Ru-dy!......Ru-dy!.......

This is a lovely story. It's a great bedtime story...whatever. I'm not sure that I buy it though. And unfortunately...most people are selfish and shallow...some without even realizing it. At times...human nature....sickens me...or inspires me.

**jacobo** · 04-25-2006 12:04 AM

reality is very different from chain-emails (thank god for that).

in reality no child's baseball team would want anything to do with shay.

shay is strange and he makes the others feel uncomfortable... they don't want that feeling... just as much as shay doesn't want that feeling... but guess what... there's more of them...

it sucks that shay is living in such provincial times... but that doesn't change the fact that shay is LIVING IN PROVINCIAL TIMES.

what's my point?

bleeding heart crap always bleeds out. the strong win, the unfortunate lose... people try to exploit that... and turn it against the strong... and those people also lose.

**nina** · 04-25-2006 01:08 AM

^ :nod:

**Oneironaut Zero** · 04-25-2006 04:31 AM

I don't necessarily think the story was true, either, but I don't think that was the point. I know that sort of benevolence exists everywhere. Unfortunately, it's just countered by the cold, shunning side of human nature that you two just spoke about.
I think it's a mistake to be aware of one side of the spectrum and decide that the other doesn't exist, though. It's possible you just haven't experienced acts of that nature, which I hope changes, but it's a big world, and I'll bet many people have. I know I've grown up seeing people do things like that very often. I'd say it's largely because of that fact that I feel I have a benevolent personality.

**Dangeruss** · 04-25-2006 12:05 PM

yeah, I mean true or not, it's still possible. Each kid on the other team was faced with a very simple choice: get shay out and have a marginal amount of fun by winning the game despite playing like a jerk, or let shay win and have a lot more fun by making him happy. The desire to see other people happy over one's own happiness isn't at all uncommon, nor even unlikely. Every time you tell a joke or cheer someone up or even just go out of your way to be polite, you're doing it. The most gratifying feeling I know is when I make the people around me happy, by making them laugh or smile or simply by not being a dick when someone's not in the mood for it. I think the story is just an anecdote, but if you really look for it, you see that these type of things happen every day. The only danger is when you come to expect it, which like politeness is no longer a choice but an expectation. Give people the choice, and you'll find that most of them will make the right one.

**docKnubis** · 04-25-2006 04:37 PM

i thought i posted in here ... .i think theres a conspiricy

i wish i could spell

forward to all but *betty*

**Aphius** · 04-25-2006 07:30 PM

Originally posted by Pensive Patrick+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pensive Patrick)</div>

Well, Aphuis, that's my point. There is no specific 'true form of human nature' and therefore it is not shown here. Sorry for the confusion.[/b]

I understand that, but I was just saying we can't say it or part of it, wasn't shown here if we can't pin it down.

<!--QuoteBegin-docthory
i thought i posted in here ... .i think theres a conspiricy *

i wish i could spell

forward to all but nina

You did, but it was pointless so I got rid of it. All that whitespace for 3-4 lines of irrelevant message was pretty pointless. You just kind of told us that Nina hates you forwarding things to her and that was it.
Just like now.

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