Perfection!

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 mainstreamed into conventional schools. At a Chush

fundraising 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 I 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 teammates.

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?

Suprisingly, 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 and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya's

teammates 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 teammate swung at the ball 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 3rd 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."

Funny how this is so true and shame on us! Funny how simple it is for people

to trash different ways of living and believing and then wonder why the

world is going to hell. Funny how you can send a thousand 'jokes' through

e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending

messages regarding life choices, people think twice about sharing. Funny how

the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but the

public discussion of morality is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Funny isn't it? Are you laughing? Funny how when you go to forward this

message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're

not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it to

them. Funny how I can be more worried about what other people think of me

than what I think of me.

FUNNY ISN'T IT!