In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning disabled children. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career, while others can be mainstreamed into conventional schools. 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 God 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 God's perfection?"
The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father's anguish, and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God 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:
One afternoon Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shaya's father knew that 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 were chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. Shaya's father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play.
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 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. 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 with the potential winning run 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 given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shaya didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, when Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly so 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 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 toward Shaya. As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung at 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 beyond reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first. 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 to 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. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, 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 to him, turned him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "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 a "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly, with tears now rolling down
his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's
perfection."
like if you cried a little at the end
The Folded Napkin
I try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie.
His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good,
reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped
employee and wasn't sure I wanted one. I wasn't sure how my
customers would react to Stevie. He was short, a little dumpy
with the smooth facial features and thick-tongued speech of Downs
Syndrome.
I wasn't worried about most of my trucker customers because
truckers don't generally care who buses tables as long as the
meatloaf platter is good and the pies are homemade. The
four-wheel drivers were the ones who concerned me; the mouthy
college kids traveling to school; the yuppie snobs who secretly
polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching
some dreaded "truck stop germ"; the pairs of white shirted
business men on expense accounts who think every truck stop
waitress wants to be flirted with. I knew those people would be
uncomfortable around Stevie, so I closely watched him for the
first few weeks.
I shouldn't have worried. After the first week, Stevie had my
staff wrapped around his stubby little finger, and within a month
my truck regulars had adopted him as their official truck stop
mascot.
After that, I really didn't care what the rest of the customers
thought of him. He was like a 21-year-old in blue jeans and
Nikes, eager to laugh and eager to please, but fierce in his
attention to his duties. Every salt and pepper shaker was exactly
in its place. Not a bread crumb or coffee spill was visible when
Stevie got done with the table.
Our only problem was persuading him to wait to clean a table
until after the customers were finished. He would hover in the
background, shifting his weight from one foot to the other,
scanning the dining room until a table was empty. Then he would
scurry to the empty table and carefully bus dishes and glasses
onto cart and meticulously wipe the table up with a practiced
flourish of his rag. If he thought a customer was watching, his
brow would pucker with added concentration.
He took pride in doing his job exactly right, and you had to love
how hard he tried to please each and every person he met.
Over time, we learned that he lived with his mother, a widow who
was disabled after repeated surgeries for cancer. They lived on
their Social Security benefits in public housing two miles from
the truck stop. Their social worker, who stopped to check on him
every so often, admitted they had fallen between the cracks.
Money was tight, and what I paid him was probably the difference
between them being able to live together and Stevie being sent to
a group home. That's why the restaurant was a gloomy place that
morning last
August, the first morning in three years that Stevie
missed work.
He was at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester getting a new valve or
something put in his heart. His social worker said that people
with Downs Syndrome often had heart problems at an early age so
this wasn't unexpected, and there was a good chance he would come
through the surgery in good shape and be back at work in a few
months.
A ripple of excitement ran through the staff later that morning
when word came that he was out of surgery, in recovery, and doing
fine.
Frannie, headwaitress, let out a war hoop and did a little dance
in the aisle when she heard the good news. Belle Ringer, one of
our regular trucker customers, stared at the sight of the
50-year-old grandmother of four doing a victory shimmy beside his
table. Frannie blushed, smoothed her apron and shot Belle Ringer
a withering look.
He grinned. "OK, Frannie, what was that all about?" he asked. "We
just got word that Stevie is out of surgery and going to be
okay."
"I was wondering where he was. I had a new joke to tell him. What
was the surgery about?" Frannie quickly told Belle Ringer and the
other two drivers sitting at his booth about Stevie's surgery,
then sighed: "Yeah, I'm glad he is going to be OK" she said. "But
I don't know how he and his Mom are going to handle all the
bills. From what I hear, they're barely getting by as it is."
Belle Ringer nodded thoughtfully, and Frannie hurried off to wait
on the rest of her tables. Since I hadn't had time to round up a
busboy to replace Stevie and really didn't want to replace him,
the girls were busing their own tables that day until we decided
what to do.
After the morning rush, Frannie walked into my office. She had a
couple of paper napkins in her hand and a funny look on her
face.
"What's up?" I asked.
"I didn't get that table where Belle Ringer and his friends were
sitting cleared off after they left, and Pony Pete and Tony
Tipper were sitting there when I got back to clean it off," she
said. "This was folded and tucked under a coffee cup." She handed
the napkin to me, and three $20 bills fell onto my desk when I
opened it. On the outside, in big, bold letters, was printed
"Something For Stevie."
"Pony Pete asked me what that was all about," she said, "so I
told him about Stevie and his Mom and everything, and Pete looked
at Tony and Tony looked at Pete, and they ended up giving me
this." She handed me another paper napkin that had "Something For
Stevie" scrawled on its outside. Two $50 bills were tucked within
its folds.
Frannie looked at me with wet, shiny eyes, shook her head and
said simply: "truckers."
That was three months ago. Today is Thanksgiving, the first day
Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement counselor
said he's been counting the days until the doctor said he could
work, and it didn't matter at all that it was a holiday. He
called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was
coming, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in
jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work, met
them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his
day back.
Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn't stop grinning as he
pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his
apron and busing cart were waiting.
"Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast," I said. I took him and his
mother by their arms. "Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate
you coming back, breakfast for you and your mother is on me!" I
led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I
could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we
marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw
booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the
procession. We stopped in front of the big table. Its surface was
covered with coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting
slightly crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins.
"First thing you have to do, Stevie, is clean up this mess," I
said. I tried to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at
his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had "Something
for Stevie" printed on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10
bills fell onto the table.
Stevie stared at the money, then at all the napkins peeking from
beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on
it. I turned to his mother.
"There's more than $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all
from truckers and trucking companies that heard about your
problems. "Happy Thanksgiving."
Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody hollering
and shouting, and there were a few tears, as well. But you know
what's funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and
hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face,
was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table.
Best worker I ever hired.
if you whant more daily stories like theese go to
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Ugly the Cat
Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was.
Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this
world: fighting, eating garbage, and, shall we say, love.
The combination of these things combined with a life spent
outside had their effect on Ugly. To start with, he had only one
eye and where the other should have been was a hole. He was also
missing his ear on the same side, his left foot appeared to have
been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural
angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner.
Ugly would have been a dark gray tabby, striped type, except for
the sores covering his head, neck, and even his shoulders. Every
time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction. "That's one
UGLY cat !"
All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw
rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come
in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not
leave. Ugly always had the same reaction.
If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting
soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he
would curl his lanky body around your feet in forgiveness.
Whenever he spied children, he would come running, meowing
frantically and bump his head against their hands, begging for
their love.
If you ever picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on
your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.
One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbor's dogs. They did
not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly mauled. I tried to rush to
his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was
apparent Ugly's sad life was almost at an end.
As I picked him up and tried to carry him home, I could hear him
wheezing and gasping, and could feel him struggling. It must be
hurting him terribly, I thought.
Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear.
Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying, was trying
to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped the
palm of my hand with his head, then he turned his one golden eye
towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring.
Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battled scarred cat was
asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion. At
that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving
creature I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or
scratch me, try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. Ugly
just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his
pain.
Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and
held him for a long time afterwards, thinking about how one
scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about
what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally
and truly.
Ugly taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand
books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I
will always be thankful. He had been scarred on the outside, but
I was scarred on the inside, and it was time for me to move on
and learn to love truly and deeply. To give my total to those I
cared for.
Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked,
beautiful, but for me...I will always try to be Ugly. not mine
thanx for reading