Focus on Education A Change in Attitude

In Brooklyn, New York, there is a school named Chush that caters to learning disabled children. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a soul-moving speech. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, “Where is the perfection in my son–Shay? Everything God does is done with perfection. However, 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?”

“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 Shay:

One afternoon, Shay and his father walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, “Do you think they will let me play?” Shay’s father understood that if his son was chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shay’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shay 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. Shay was told to put on a glove and go out to play center field.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay’s team scored and with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base. Shay was scheduled to be up. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shay didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. The pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to make contact.

One of Shay’s team-mates came up to Shay and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay 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. Shay 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, “Shay, run to first.” Never in his life had Shay 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