Dec 04

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.

In
the bottom of the 8th inning, Shaya's team rallied and
scored three runs. But they were still losing by three.

In
the bottom of the 9th, they rallied again. They had
three runners on base, two out, and it was Shaya's turn
to bat.

Dad
wondered, will they even let him bat? But without hesitation,
one of the boys shouted, "Shaya, you're up!,"
and he was handed a bat. But as he stood at home plate,
it was obvious to all that Shaya didn't even know how
to hold the bat, let alone hit with it.