Have a Shay Day ???

This showed up in my mailbox today. I have seen it before. So here it is in it's glory and my response below.


My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled
children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that
would never be forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the
school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question: 'When not
interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does is
done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as
other children do. He cannot understand things as other children
do. Where is the natural order of things in my son?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

The father continued. 'I believe that when a child like Shay,
physically and mentally handicapped comes into the world, an
opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it
comes in the way other people treat that child.'

Then he told the following story:

Shay and his father had walked past a park where some boys Shay
knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, 'Do you think they'll let
me play?' Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want
someone like Shay on their team, but the father also understood that
if his son were allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed
sense of belonging and some confidence to be accepted by others
in spite of his handicaps.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked
(not expecting much) if Shay could play. The boy looked around for
guidance and said, 'We're 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 in to bat in the ninth inning.'

Shay struggled over to the team's bench and, with a broad smile,
put on a team shirt. His Father watched with a small tear in his
eye and warmth in his heart. The boys saw the father's joy at his
son being accepted. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's
team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the top
of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the right
field. Even though no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic
just to be in the game and on the field, grinning from ear to ear
as his father waved to him from the stands. In the bottom of the
ninth inning, S hay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and
the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base and Shay
was scheduled to be next at bat.

At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance
to win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat Everyone
knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even
know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the
ball.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing
that the other team was putting winning aside for this moment in
Shay's life, moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so
Shay could at least make contact. The first pitch came and Shay
swung clumsily and missed. The pitcher again took a few steps
forward to toss the ball softly towards Shay. As the pitch came in,
Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball right back to
the pitcher.

The game would now be over. The pitcher picked up the soft
grounder and could have easily thrown the ball to the first
baseman. Shay would have been out and that would have been the end
of the game.

Instead, the pitcher threw the ball right over the first baseman's
head, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and
both teams started yelling, 'Shay, run to first! Run to first!'
Never in his life had Shay ever run that far, but he made it to
first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed and
startled.

Everyone yelled, 'Run to second, run to second!' Catchi g his
breath, Shay awkwardly ran towards second, gleaming and struggling
to make it to the base. By the time Shay rounded towards second
base, the right fielder had the ball ... the smallest guy on their
team who now had his first chance to be the hero for his team. He
could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but
he understood the pitcher's intentions so he, too, intentionally
threw the ball high and far over the third-base man's head. Shay ran
toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him circled the
bases toward home.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

Shay reached third base because the opposing shortstop ran to help
him by turning him in the direction of third base, and shouted, 'Run
to third! Shay, run to third!'

As Shay rounded third, the boys from both teams, and the
spectators, were on their feet screaming, 'Shay, run home! Run
home!' Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as
the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

'That day', said the father softly with tears now rolling down his
face, 'the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and
humanity into this world'.

Shay didn't make it to another summer. He died that winter, having
never forgotten being the hero and making his father so happy, and
coming home and seeing his Mother tearfully embrace her little
hero of the day!

AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of
jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it
comes to sending messages about life choices , people hesitate. The
crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace,
but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our
schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that
you're probably sorting out the people in your address book who
aren't the 'appropriate' ones to receive this type of message. Well,
the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a
difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day
to help realize the 'natural order of things.' So many seemingly
trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:
Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass
up those opportunities and leave the world a little bit colder in
the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's
least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.

************************************


Okay, this story has been making the rounds for a long time. The first time I saw it I did the research and found that the veracity of this story was undetermined. I just checked again - same thing. All I can say is that if it is true it had to happen at least 30 years ago. If it had happened anymore recently than that the scenario would have been.....

The coach of the team saying, "Lookit buster, I worked my butt off all season whipping this bunch misfits into shape and now we have a chance to make it into the playoffs. Ain't no way "I'm" giving up that chance to let your kid play just so he might feel better about himself."

At which point the ACLU would show up from out of nowhere (well not really nowhere - they're lurking everywhere) with a writ forcing the coach to let the kid play.

So the coach quits (this is okay - he was a jerk and the kids are better off without him).

While the guy from the ACLU grabs his cell phone trying to hunt down somebody who can find a judge to issue an injunction against the other team because now they have an unfair advantage due to having a coach. In the meantime, kids being kids, they decide to get on with it and let Shay play.
When it is Shay's turn to bat the guy from the ACLU (he's still feverishly trying to get an injunction) whips out the other court order he already has (he anticipated needing it because - as he so often reminds himself - he is smarter than everyone else) which makes the game stop while they move the bases three-quarters of the way in because Shay is obviously disadvantaged.

Now when the pitcher tosses the ball underhand his Father starts screaming from the stands, "That's not how I taught you to pitch ya little wimp. You can burn it past this kid - increase your stats."
A woman in the stands starts yelling at the father, "Sit down you jerk. They shouldn't even make him bat they should just let him run around the bases. The poor kid will never be able to do anything for himself so we need to take care of him". Then she hits the guy with her umbrella emblazoned with the Peace symbol.

Of course a melee breaks out in the stands and so no one notices that Shay has managed to tap the ball back toward the pitcher. Shay's team is yelling, "Run, Shay, run! " and so Shay runs (the now twenty feet or so) to first base while the pitcher intentionally tosses the ball over the first baseman's head. From the stands the pitcher's father screams, "I saw that. Wait till I get ya home ya little bastard. I'll teach you to throw the game." The last few words though are almost unintelligible because the woman with the "Peace symbol" umbrella has just used it to connect with his cajones.

Meantime Shay is almost to third by virtue of the others on the fielding team intentionally throwing the ball away from him. Now Shay is rounding third and the one little punk bully on the team, Billy, has finally gotten his hands on the ball and is heading toward Shay - intending to tag him out. The guy from the ACLU is overwhelmed and finally decides to take the law into his own hands (big surprise there) and runs out and tackles the kid with the ball. At this point Billy's father breaks away from the fight in the stands and begins to pummel the ACLU attorney while simultaneously the fielding team coach runs from the dugout and tackles Shay to stop him from crossing the plate.


Shay's father runs out onto the field to defend his son but is cut off by a freshly tonsured trial lawyer who stuffs his card in the dad's pocket saying, "This is worth millions if not hundreds of millions - give me a call." He then walks over and hands a card to the little punk, Billy, saying the same thing. Then he even hands one to the ACLU attorney with the cleat marks in his forehead.

Fade to black.

Now a thought about the original story.

Nature is not perfect, but it does not make mistakes.
Even it's imperfections have purpose. What that purpose may be I will often never be able to discern or fathom - but I have faith that it is there.

And a thought about the footnote.

I often forward things to friends. I never forward them without deleting the part that says "If you are a good person you will forward this", etc. , etc. - If they want to forward they will - it is not for me to admonish them for what they may or may not do with it. Emotions are great things - they make life worth living. But they are not the things upon which decisions should be based.



Later amigos.

Prejudice is an Interesting Word

Most of the time when I hear the word prejudice mentioned it has to do with race, religion, or lifestyle issues. And while the definitions of prejudice certainly apply to these things they apply to many other things as well. Certainly one definition bias: a partiality that prevents objective consideration of an issue or situation pertains to what has gone on in congress over the last couple of days.

Over the last few months congress persons and senators on both sides of the aisle have been saying that they were looking forward to the report on "The Surge" from general Pretaeus. I think that both sides were thinking that the report would bolster their position. On the right - that it was working and was the right thing to do. On the left - that it had not worked and that nothing the US could or would do in Iraq would make any difference and that it would further galvanize their efforts to force a pullout.

A few days before yesterday's report many democrats on the hill began to disavow what they had come to believe the report would say. Senator Durbin of Illinois said that nothing in the report could be believed because it had been filtered through the White House and that it was going to be the "Bush-Pretraues" report. Senator Schumer from New York even went so far as to say that the drop in violence in Anbar province was "in spite of" the surge - not because of it.
Of course he back peddled the next day saying he had the greatest respect for the troops but I doubt many believed him. These people did not have advance copies of what the report would say - nor was it leaked. Instead they had seen evidence that the surge was working. Maybe not a total success but working nonetheless.

So as I watched (and continue to watch) the testimony in front of the house and senate committees a few things struck me. The first that even though the general stated that while he had briefed his chain of command the report had not been seen by anyone at the Pentagon or the White House and it was HIS report and his alone, many of the democrats basically called him a liar. A large number of those doing so have never even been to Iraq (maybe senator Kennedy was afraid he couldn't get his two or three martinis at lunch over there - who knows), and yet had the audacity to purport they knew better than the general what was transpiring in Iraq.

The second thing that was really amazing thing was the duplicity. Before launching into disparagement of his integrity they had the audacity to say they appreciated his service. Can you say "two faced" boys and girls? How can I go so far as to say "two-faced" and that they were being duplicitous? Well, easy. Several of the Republican congress persons and senators brought up the full page ad taken out by Moveon.org in Monday's New York Times with a picture of the General and underneath a caption "General Pretraeus or General Betray us". They went on to say that they hoped they would be joined by all their colleagues on both sides of the aisle in condemning the ad. However not one of the democrats followed their supposed appreciation of the general's service with a condemnation. Instead they went directly into their character assassination of General Pretraeus and the questioning of his motives.

While the general did not paint an overly rosy picture I got the feeling that he was giving his honest assessment of the situation now and in the future. It is sad to think that there are those in congress who are so invested in failure in Iraq - as a prelude to getting more power - that they would blatantly ignore what many would see as good news. Am I making it up? Well SC representative James Clyburn - majority whip and the number three democrat in the house said not long ago "If Pretraeus has a positive report that would be a real big problem for us (the democrats). (As an aside I have to say that Rep. Clyburn may have just ridden into town on a turnip truck to admit that to a member of the press.) It is truly a sad thing.

So my point is that most of the democrats (of the party that claims to be accepting and inclusive)are prejudiced. They refused to listen with an open mind. They had a bias and they acted upon it.

In closing I have to say after watching all the hearings that I have come to one very concrete conclusion - the only person in the United States with a less coherent thought process than Lauren Caitlin Upton (the infamous Miss Teen USA contestant from South Carolina) is Senator Robert (bring home the bacon [read "pork"]) Byrd from West Virginia. No worries for her, though. She has plenty of time to groom herself to takes his place - at least another thirty years. Because it is my firm belief that Robert Byrd will be the first senator to be returned to office after his death - for several terms. Well at least his speeches on the floor will be more interesting.

T Minus Thirteen Days and Counting

Well nothing much going here down on the Space Coast. Two weeks until my colonoscopy (maybe I'll get a photo suitable for framing). A guy I know said you need to have a good attitude about it - instead of looking at it as something to be worried or concerned about you need to look at it as an adventure. I told him when I see Disney building "Colonoscopy Mountain", "Pirates of the Upper GI Tract", or hear the characters singing "It's a Small Intestine After All" then I will think of it as an adventure. Actually I have no trepidation about it all. Even though, when I took my Mother in for her first follow up after her colon cancer surgery, there was this woman I could hear from the recovery area screaming "No it hurts too much. Stop, stop." I think her doctor finally acceded. No, instead I will be like my friend who had the procedure - when they started he asked the anesthetist when they were going to give him the drugs. She said they already had and his reply -"Well you need to give me more, NOW!".

I am actually more afraid of the preparation. They gotta get you cleaned out. REALLY cleaned out. This other friend of mine said that she finally got tired of running to the toilet every couple of minutes so she finally took a good book, some good music, and basically moved into the bathroom for the duration of the preparation.

Well, at least I can look forward to drinking a year's supply of bullion and eating a decade's worth of Jello the day before. Yummy.

Michael Vick and the Multicultural America

Let me get one thing straight at the outset. Even though I am an animal lover and a conservative I don't think that Michael Vick should go up the river to the big house. I'll get to my reasons later.

It doesn't matter what, when, where, why, or how. If I recall my high school journalism correctly (and since I am getting on and I haven't replenished my supply of Ginko Baloba in a while I could be wrong) that's five of the things that need to be addressed in the first paragraph of a news story. The sixth is the one thing, in our day and age, that really matters - Who. In our society if there is a celebrity of any type involved then it automatically becomes a carnival sideshow that assails us constantly from eighty-seven different channels. Most of the time I don't pay attention. I mean who cares if Lindsay Lohan had a crappy upbringing with a father who didn't care and a Mom who not only enabled her bad behavior, but participated in it. The cast of characters may be different (and often not famous) but it is a story that is mirrored many thousands of times across our nation. I care more about the kids who don't have rehab to run to, but I know that a lot of the kids will turn out okay if they get a break or two. Some will rise heroically above their circumstances and we will never know, but they will be an integral part of our national spine (the one that is ever weakening). Who knows - maybe they will save us.

But I digress (I know, I know, I do that a lot) so back to Michael Vick. I have to admit I have been following the case with some interest. Of course everybody runs to find "experts", but with so many news outlets these days a lot of them have pretty thin credentials. I mean if a guy is a professor of cultural studies at Scoobie-Dobbie junior college in East Armpit New Jersey I'm not gonna give him a lot of credence. If he was that smart he wouldn't be floundering in some backwater - he'd be teaching shop at a vocational school somewhere. So most of these people aren't going to change my opinion, but I have found it interesting what they have to say.

What really caught my ear were the people (including Jamie Foxx who I happen to like as a performer) who said that Vick should somehow be given pretty much a pass because he grew up in a "culture" where dog fighting was somewhat acceptable. I think Jamie Foxx said (and I am paraphrasing here), "In the neighborhood where I grew up dogs were fighting all the time so you got to look on it as no big thing". I have heard that echoed by quite a few other "experts". And, thereby, lay the shoals of multiculturalism that our country will, in all probability, flounder upon. Whoopi also apparently just spouted the same rhetoric on The View and also mentioned how cock fighting was accepted in Puerto Rico. But it is a bogus argument.

I love the fact that we have so many different cultures at the base of our society. It makes life interesting, fun, and never boring. Not only the cultures, but the races who embody those cultures. I can think of nothing more depressing than walking down the street and looking at faces that are the same general shape and color as my own. I love the diversity. But I hate the fact that somehow the European sector of our society has been continually hammered into feeling guilty about not perceiving these individual cultures as more important than the American culture as a whole. That somehow we need to excuse behavior - that in America is unacceptable - because the practitioners of that behavior come from cultures where it is acceptable.

I remembered an old Quotation from Aesop - "United we stand. Divided we fall". I originally thought it was from the fable "A Bundle of Sticks" but that quotation was "Union gives strength". The "United we stand" quote was from the fable "Four Oxen and the Lion". But they both apply. I see the United States as made up of the many individual sticks of cultures. When they are all tied together they are impossible to break, but separate them and the individual sticks can be broken easily.

That is why we should not encourage or enable any culture to separate itself. Not only for the good of the American culture as a whole, but for the good of each individual culture. In this country if cultures are separated then the heart and the soul of each culture will eventually be isolated - along with the people who follow it. While the courts may force acceptance they can never change people's minds. And we should know by long, hard experience that the surest way to fear and mistrust is to encourage isolation. The US went through a lot of hard times (and it was right that it did) to come to "Brown versus the Board of Education" which struck down the whole idea of separate but equal. Now there are very vocal factions of almost every minority group that are trying to revive the concept - and often take it a step further - separate but more than equal. Personally I believe in the old "saw" - What's sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. We will spiral down into chaos if we inconvenience a huge majority of the population in order accommodate a very small minority.

So should we take into consideration the 'culture" in which Michael Vick grew up? Should he have received a pass for his crimes because of that "cultural" influence? Absolutely not. If we did that then we would have to give Latinos who are arrested for cock fighting a pass due to cultural influences. In China they have a saying - "If it's back points toward heaven you can eat it." Should then Chinese (and possibly other Asians) be given a pass if they start cooking dogs and cats?

We can't do that. People are clamoring to come to this country. Many even come here without invitation or legal status. Then once they are here they expect (and often demand) that we give them special consideration on cultural and/or religious grounds. Being the idiots we are we allow them to "guilt" us into thinking they have a point and we acquiesce. A perfect example is the college in Minneapolis that is using tax payer money to build foot baths for Muslim students. Also in Minneapolis Muslim cab drivers have refused to pick up or drop off anyone at a bar or liquor store or if they appear to be intoxicated or are carrying any alcohol - and they are being allowed to get away with it. Minneapolis is also apparently considering demands to build private rooms in the airport for Muslims to pray (I am assuming they will have the aforementioned foot baths). It is complete idiocy.

But back to Michael Vick. When the fur first hit the fan there were a lot of Black activists who tried to float the notion that if this had been a white man there would have not been the same level of outrage. It soon became evident that wasn't going to fly -especially when the full scope of the crimes was revealed. Not only had he been raising dogs for fighting but he also had dogs killed that had not fought well. In a country of animal lovers the crimes were seen as so heinous that no matter the race of the perpetrator the level of outrage would be the same. That's when the whole "I'm not excusing it but he was raised in a culture where it was acceptable" argument started showing up. You know how I feel about that.

I said at the beginning I don not think Mr. Vick should go to jail. Now I will tell you why. There are three reasons for incarceration.

1. To protect society by removing the offender from its midst.

2. To punish the offender for their crime(s).

3. To make an example that may deter others from committing the same offense(s).

Michael Vick is not a threat to the population - either human or animal (anymore). The amount of money he has lost and the possible loss of his career and future income is certainly punishment enough. And the publicity from this incident and the outcome will serve to deter those who can be deterred. Rather I think the punishment should fit the crime. I think that he should have to wear a monitoring bracelet for the year. I think for the first six months he should be made to work at an animal welfare center where animals are brought in after being removed from people who have mistreated them. If you've ever watched the any of the Animal Cops shows on Animal Planet you know what I am talking about - where, for example, dogs have been brought in with chains that have grown into their necks. That would give him the perspective of people who go to incredible lengths to save these animals. The other six months he should have to work at a facility that trains service dogs or at an organization that takes animals to hospitals, nursing homes, and hospices for therapy. That way he could see what a positive impact animals can have on people's lives. Who knows, he might have an epiphany. If he doesn't show up for work - then toss him in the pokey.

And as a last word - about those foot baths for the Muslims. I think congress should give a big boost to the budget to build bidets for any minority or special interest group that wants them- because we aren't only kissing feet.

Later.