Please allow me to tell
you a true story about a place called Chush. 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 main-streamed into conventional schools. At a Chush fund-raising
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 that He seeks 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
team-mates. 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 team-mates came up to Shaya 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 Shaya. As the pitch came in, Shaya and his team-mate swung 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."
|
TOP