| Prior Date | Back to Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 3, 2000 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: It took me a long time not to judge myself through someone else's eyes. - Sally Field Source: The Motivation Mailer, motivational_mailer-subscribe@topica.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: (This story is long but will touch your heart. - Richard :o) "BASEBALL HEROES" By Rabbi Paysach Krohn - via http://www.witandwisdom.org In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school careers, while others can be mainstreamed into conventional Jewish schools. There are a few children who attend Chush for most of the week and go to a regular school on Sundays. At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech. After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything that 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 his piercing query. He then told the following story about his son Shaya: Shaya attends Chush throughout the week and a boy's yeshiva (Torah institute) on Sundays. One Sunday afternoon, Shaya and his father came to the yeshiva as his classmates were playing baseball. The game was in progress and as Shaya and his father made their way towards the ballfield, Shaya said, "Do you think you could get me into the game?" Shaya's father knew 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 in, it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked, "Do you think my Shaya could get into the game?" 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 already 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 and the potential winning runs 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? Surprisingly, Shaya was told to take a bat and try to get a hit. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible, for 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 in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shaya should at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came in 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 towards Shaya. As the next pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat 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 and wide beyond the first baseman's reach. Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first! Shaya, 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 third baseman's head, as everyone yelled, "Shaya, run to second! Shaya, 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 shortstop ran towards him, turned him towards the direction of third base and shouted, "Shaya, run to third!" As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya, run home! 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 the "grand slam" and won the game for his team. "I believe," the father continued, "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." "That day," said the father who now had tears rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of perfection. They showed that it is not only those who are talented that should be recognized, but also those who have less talent. They too are human beings, they too have feelings and emotions, they too are people, they too want to feel important." Submitted by: Jo Walters, Sharon Hamel, Susan Giovannoni, Opal Singer, Vance Kennedy, Carol Blum, Braxton Hagele, Lyle R. Pohly, Rod Keen, Mary Lou Gilliatt, Rosie Laduca ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: DICTIONARY DAFFYNITIONS . . . Part 5 of 6 [May 17,30, Jun 12,22, Jul 3,13] Compiled by WITandWISDOM(tm) 2000 Mailto:subscribe-wit-wisdom@xc.org Misty: How golfers create divots. Momentum: What you give a person when they are going away. Mosquito: An insect that makes flies look good after all. Nitrate: Cheapest price for calling long distance. Normal: Setting on a washing machine. Observatory: What Washington asked his spies to do. Opera: Where a guy gets stabbed in the back and sings about it. Pandemonium: A housing development for pandas. Paradise: Ivory cubes used in games. Paradox: Two physicians. Paraffins: Found on the sides of fish. Paralyze: Two untruths. Parasites: What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Pharmacist: A helper on the farm. Pizza: The four food groups. Planet: A body of Earth surrounded by sky. Polarize: What penguins see with. Poverty: Having too much month left at the end of the money. Praise: Letting off esteem. Primate: Removing your spouse from in front of the TV. Protein: An advocate of teen-agers rights. Rampage: Section of a book about male sheep. Relief: What trees do in the spring. Rhubarb: A kind of celery gone bloodshot. Rubberneck: What you do to relax your wife. Sarcasm: Quip lash. Seamstress: Describes 250 pounds in a size six. ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Isaac Asimov told the following story about his experience with the military: There's something about being a private in the army (as I was) that creates hostility to officers. No officer ever mistreated me in the army; none was even unreasonable to me. Yet I had an aversion to them just the same. Things changed after my discharge, however. On the very first day after, when I was in civilian clothes at last and on my way home, a major inadvertently stepped on my shoe at the subway station. "Pardon me," he said, civilly. And eyeing the oak leaf on his shoulder, I said loftily, "That's all right, kid." Somehow that made it all even. Source: Giggles & Grins Copyright (c) 2000 by Igiggle@aol.com All Rights Reserved, gigglesngrins- subscribe@topica.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Why did Pioneer 2 carry a 13.5-carat diamond? The 1978 Venus space probe wasn't carrying the valuable rock to barter with friendly Venusians - it was used as an instrument viewing port. The diamond was the only substance that was transparent to infrared light and also able to withstand the red-hot heat and tremendous pressure of the Venusian atmosphere. Source: ArcaMax Trivia, www.arcamax.com via http://www.witandwisdom.org |