and the original
version:
Perfection
at the Plate
Sports in America is not only a
multibillion dollar industry, but rare is the child growing
up in the United States who has never been involved in some
type of sports competition, be it baseball, basketball,
punchball, handball, football or hockey. For this reason,
people who have grown up in America, both young and old, are
swept up and moved as their mind’s eye visualizes the
unfolding of these incredible events.
However, it is not only an American that
can fully appreciate the intensity of this marvelous
“sports” story. This tender story also has universal
appeal, because it deals with the universal values of
sensitivity, self-esteem, and acceptance.
In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school
that caters to learning-disabled children. Some children
remain in Chush for their entire school careers, while
others can be mainstreamed into conventional yeshivos and
Bais Yaakovs. There are a few children who attend Chush for
most of the week and go to a regular school on Sundays.
At a Chush fund-raising dinner, the father
of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be
forgotten by all who attended. After extolling the school
and its dedicated staff, he cried out, “Where is the
perfection in my son Shaya? Everything that Hashem [G-d] does is
done with perfection. But my child cannot understand things
as other children do. My child cannot remember facts and
figures as other children do. Where is Hashem’s
perfection?” The audience was shocked by the question,
pained by the father’s anguish and stilled by his piercing
query.
“I believe,” the father answered,
“that when Hashem 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 Shaya.
Shaya attends Chush throughout the week and
Yeshivah Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway on Sundays. One
Sunday afternoon, Shaya and his father came to Darchei Torah
as his classmates were playing baseball. The game was in
progress and as Shaya and his father made their way towards
the ball field, Shaya said, “Do you think you could get me
into the game?”
Shaya’s father knew his son was not at all
athletic, and that most boys would not want him on their
team. But Shaya’s father understood that if his son was
chosen in, it would give him a comfortable sense of
belonging.
Shaya’s father approached one of the boys
in the field and asked, “Do you think my Shaya could get
into the game?”
The boy looked around for guidance from his
teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands
and said, “We are losing by six runs and the game is
already 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.”
Shaya’s father was ecstatic as Shaya
smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out
to play short center field, a position that exists only in
softball. There were no protests from the opposing team,
which would now be hitting with an extra man in the
outfield.
In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by
three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team
scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded and
the potential winning runs on base, Shaya was scheduled to
be up. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this
juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shaya
was told to take a bat and try to get a hit. Everyone knew
that it was all but impossible, for Shaya didn’t even know
how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However
as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few
steps to lob the ball in softly so that Shaya should at
least be able to make contact.
The first pitch came in and Shaya swung
clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to
Shaya 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 towards Shaya.
As the next pitch came in, Shaya and his
teammate swung the bat 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.
Shaya 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 and wide beyond the
first baseman’s reach. Everyone started yelling, “Shaya,
run to first! Shaya, run to first!” Never in his life had
Shaya 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 Shaya, 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, as everyone yelled,
“Shaya, run to second! Shaya, run to second.”
Shaya ran towards second base as the runners
ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home. As
Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran
towards him, turned him towards the direction of third base
and shouted “Shaya, run to third!”
As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both
teams ran behind him screaming, “Shaya, run home! Shaya,
run home!”
Shaya 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 the “grand slam” and won the
game for his team.
“That day,” said
the father who now had tears rolling down his face, “those
18 boys reached their level of perfection. They showed that
it is not only those who are talented that should be
recognized, but also those who have less talent. They too
are human beings, they too have feelings and emotions, they
too are people, they too want to feel important.”
* * *
That is the exceptional lesson of this
episode. Too often we seek to find favor and give honor to
those who have more than us. But there are people who have
fewer friends than we, less money, and less prestige. Those
people especially need attention and recognition. We should
try to achieve the level of perfection in human
relationships which the boys on the ball field at Yeshiva
Darchei Torah achieved.
Because if children can do it, we adults
should certainly be able to accomplish it as well. |