I had intended my first post to these fora (sorry... forums) to be business related!!
However, I received an email today which started me thinking about a non-business subject!
Then the penny dropped
and I realised.... - so I thought I'd post it here and let you all be the judges!!!
So here it is (Ad Verbatim) :-
Subject: FW: Two Choices
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>Two Choices
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>What would you do?....you make the choice. Don't look for a punch line,
>there isn't one. Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the
>same choice?
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>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?"
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>The audience was stilled by the query.
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>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."
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>Then he told the following story:
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>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.
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>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."
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>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 g ame 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, Shay'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.
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>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.
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>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.
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>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.
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>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.
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>Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!" Catching 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-baseman's
>head. Shay ran toward third base deliriously as the runners ahead of him
>circled the bases toward home.
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>All were screaming, "Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay"
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>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!"
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>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.
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>"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".
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>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!
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>AND NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We all send thousands of jokes
>through the e-mail without a second tho ught, 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.
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>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?
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>A wise man once said every society i s judged by how it treats it's least
>fortunate amongst them.
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>You now have two choices:
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>1. Delete
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>2. Forward
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>May your day, be a Shay Day.
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>MSN Hotmail is evolving – check out the new Windows Live Mail
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