The first story was written about in this blog back in the middle of 2011. From all of my research, it appears to be a legitimate news story and actually did happen (check out the reader comments at the bottom of the post). The link for the story is as follows:
http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2011/06/honorable-american-teenager.html
It contrasts the compassion and integrity of a young high school sophomore and the personal sacrifice he made for one one his close friends against the demeaning and disgraceful performance of former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Mr. Weiner was not a kid at that time of his disgraceful escapades and his behavior had nothing to do with compassion and integrity. The details should make you feel good in this area of not good political behavior and venom.
I do not know if the second story is true about kids being great human beings. It came to me in an email and there is no way to check its validity. The email is reproduced below for your review.
However, it would not surprise me if it was true. I have coached many, many seasons of youth baseball, basketball and soccer. I have seen the type of behavior supposedly demonstrated in the following email account on my teams. Most kids playing sports could care less about a game once it is over and you are at the post game ice cream stand. I have seen many examples of team work, compassion, and live-and-let-live attitudes from the kids, probably more so than from their parents.
It is a shame that the kids I have dealt with on my teams, the high school sophomore from the above post, and the kids from the following story do not run the country. I believe that there would be a lot more team work, compassion, and a better world if they did. And, ice cream would be much more prevalent in all of our lives.
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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 is: Would you have made the same choice?
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves children with learning disabilities, 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 stunned by the query.
The father continued. "I believe that when a child like Shay, who was mentally and physically disabled 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 I had walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let me play?' I knew that most of the boys would not want someone like Shay on their team, but as a father I also understood that if my 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.
I 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.. I watched with a small tear in my eye and warmth in my heart. The boys saw my joy at my 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 I 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 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 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.
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 teammates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"
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 second, run to second!" Catching his breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling to make it to the base.
By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball . The smallest guy on their team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions so 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 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 me so happy, and coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little hero of the day!
AND NOW A LITTLE FOOT NOTE 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.
If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who 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 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.
May your day, be a Shay Day
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Nice story, true or not, and it should be a beacon for all of us, and especially our politicians, to follow. In the entire story, no one callously called anyone a racist, a former member of the Ku Klux Klan, a knuckle dragging Neanderthal, un-American, an a__h___, a terrorist, a barbarian, a gerbil, or any other uncalled for denigration.
Over the past three years, Americans have been singled out by American politicians and called these disturbing names simply for having a difference of opinion from these politicians. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, allowed the the mudslinging and slander to go on unabated during this time, he was obviously not having a Shay day, or a Shay year.
Unlike the President and his political allies, everyone at that kids' baseball game worked together to create something special as opposed to our political class that work only towards their own personal enrichment and their own reelection. Those at the game put aside their petty differences, i.e. trying to win a relative meaningless baseball game, to make a life changing impact on a fellow human being. In the process, all of the kids referenced above not only improved the life of someone else but in the process, made themselves better human beings.
That is the secret that politicians do not understand. By demeaning those Americans that simply have a different opinion from them, rather than engaging this diversity of opinion to find a common, optimal solution, they debase themselves and the office they hold. They are not leaders, they are just selfish, small people that contribute nothing to the greater good.
Yes, we should teach our children well. But we should also let them teach us also because they sometimes see life in much simpler, clearer, and less biased, ignorant, and hateful terms, which is often the better way to go through life. Have a Shay day today and always, it will make life a little better for someone else, for yourself, and hopefully, for the entire country. Lord knows doing it the political class way is not working.
We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
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