What This World Need Most - More Caring and Compassionate Thoughts and Consideration

A lot of time, the internet stories that I received are on jokes and sexist in nature. This particular came to me last year, and when I received it, I sort of just skimp through it without much serious thought. The second time round when I re-read this, I must say that it move me to tears, seeing how much of the world today that we are in are lacking of such qualities, much needed necessity.

The people we meet today, tend to be selfish, and thinks only of themselves, the gains. Many of today’s ills and problems stemmed from such selfish thoughts and greed.

If we could just make it point to think of what we can do, to contribute and give something back to the family, the organization, the society, the country, then the world would be a much better place.

Spend the time, to read the following, and hope that we can make the difference and bring some cheers and happiness firstly to those around us, and to others

Read This, The Story goes this way,

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 & 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 under- stood 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 (not expecting much) if Shay could play. 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 and, with a broad smile, put on a team shirt. His Father watched with 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 8th inning, Shay's team scored a few runs
but was still behind by 3. In the top of the 9 th 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 9th inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with 2 outs and 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 because 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 that the other team was 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 make contact. The 1st pitch came. 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. 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 first baseman's head, out of reach of all team-mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to 1st! Run to 1st!"
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to first base.

He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to 2nd, run to 2nd!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards 2nd base, the right fielder had the ball .. the smallest guy on their team who now had his 1st chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the 2nd-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally threw the ball high and far over the 3rd-baseman's head. Shay ran toward 3rd 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 because the opposing shortstop ran to help him by turning 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 the spectators, were on their feet screaming, "Shay, run home! 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. He 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 hesitate. The crude, vulgar, and
often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is
too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

This is indeed touching, and I believe we, each individually can make a difference, maybe not to ourselves but at least to others. There are thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial interactions between two person, do we then pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up those opportunities 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.

Hope you like this story.

Posted by
Ivan