(Lorrie Pimentel)

This was forwarded to me from another list. I think this is just
beautiful.
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 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 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?
Surpassingly, 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 he 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 if 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."