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
main- streamed into conventional schools.
At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father of a Chush child
delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by any who
attended. 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. But my child cannot understand things
as other children do. My child cannot rememmber 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 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 knew that his son was not at all athletic and that
most boys would not want him on their team. But 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, and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth
inning."
Shay's father was ecstatic as Shay smiled broadly. Shay was told to
put on a glove and go out to play short center field. In the bottom
of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still
behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team
scored again and now 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.
However as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few
steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay should at least be able to
make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. One of
Shay's team-mates came up to Shay 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 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. 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 Shay, 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."
Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him delirious
circled the bases towards home. As Shay reached second base, the
opposing short stop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third
base and shouted, "Run to third."
As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him
screaming, "Shay run home."
Shay 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!
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 people can send a thousand 'jokes' through e-mail and they
spread like wildfire, but when one starts sending messages regarding
life choices, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how the lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene pass freely through
cyberspace, but public discussion of morality is too often
suppressed in school and the workplace.
Funny how when you go to forward this message (if you choose to
forward it), 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 we can be more worried about what other people think of us
than what we think of ourselves.
At a time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time
when you can choose either to make a difference or just hit delete.
Keep reaching for that level of perfection.
Not: Sayın
Zeynep Kuleyin'e teşekkür ederiz. |