Dec 04

Anyway,
without further ado, here's a very special message from my friend,
Gary Bencivenga:

This
story is about another father of a disabled child, in
his case, a son named Shaya.

This
story was originally reported in the New York newspapers.
It was so touching, it spread like wildfire across the
internet, and many began to question, "Did this
really happen, or is it just another urban legend?"

Well,
that's the amazing part of this story. It is true. In
fact, because of all the buzz, a web site called "TruthOrFiction.com"
investigated and has reported that, yes, the story is
indeed true. It has also been confirmed by no less an
authority than the highly respected Rabbi and author,
Paysach Krohn of Brooklyn, who says that he personally
knows the participants and that every word of the story
is true as originally reported. As I said, the story
is about Shaya, a learning disabled boy in Brooklyn.

On
weekends, Shaya and his dad like to go for walks. As
they do, they like to stop and watch the neighborhood
boys play baseball.

On
this one Sunday afternoon, as they approached the ball
field, Shaya looked up at his father and asked, "Dad,
do you think they would let me play?"

Now,
this gave Dad a dilemma. He knows his son is learning
disabled, very uncoordinated, and has never played baseball
before. But Dad also knows the neighborhood boys have
always treated Shaya with kindness. And he feels that
if he, his father, doesn't speak up for Shaya, who will?

So
he walked over to one of the boys and asked, "What
do you think about letting Shaya in the game?"

The
boy didn't know what to say, and looked around to his
teammates for guidance. Not getting any, he took matters
into his own hands. He said, "Well, we're about
to start the 8th inning, and we're losing by six runs.
I don't think we're going to win this game, so what's
the difference? Get him a glove and he can play behind
second base, in short center field," which
Shaya did with a big smile on his face.