When my boys were very young, they played optimist, coach pitch baseball. Our team was winning the game and doing very well. The next batter for the opposing team came up to bat. He barely hit the ball past the pitcher. The pitcher got the ball wildly threw it to the 1st baseman, who let it go over his head. He retrieved the ball and tossed it to the 2nd baseman who also missed the ball. The runner kept running and running around the bases. Everyone from our team was confused at why our players were not getting this runner out. What was going on? The runner's spectators were all yelling for him to run faster and cheering for him. The runner made a home run eventually. Later on we were informed that the boy was handicapped but wanted to be on the team. The coach talked to our coach and team about letting him bat and score a run that would not count. It made the boy very happy and gave our team a chance to be kind to someone less fortunate. The team enjoyed seeing the boy have a good time and be proud of himself. It was heart breaking, but at the same time very rewarding to see this child have such a great time just playing baseball.
I have three sons, they are all healthy and mostly normal children. This event helped to see clearly, how much I am thankful to the good Lord for giving me healthy, normal, wonderful children. We often take wonderful things God gives us for granted until we see someone else less fortunate.
Being a mom of boys in sports for the past 10 years this story makes me wonder if the parents of the kids that were making all the mistakes were yelling at them. I know how the parents are at my sons’ sports (basketball, soccer, baseball, football, and wrestling). You always have the parents that yell and scream at their children when they think that they are not perfect. I always want to fuss at these parents and ask them if they really know what they are doing to their child's self esteem. If there were parents at this game yelling at their children for messing up I hope that they felt bad for it when they found out the real reason for their child's less than perfect performance. It’s sad that our children treat people better than their own parents treat them.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful story....we had a situation like that a few years ago when a couple in our church started fostering a boy with certain disabilities. We were at a birthday party where we were playing baseball. The boy had never played baseball before, so he had no idea what to do. Different folks took turns helping him through each stage of his bat...someone helped him swing...another person took him by the hand and ran with him around the bases (she let go of his hand as soon as he realized he was to follow her), and the outfielders kept the ball in play so he could run all the bases. It seems such a simple thing, but in reality, it's the simple things that make all the difference...and not just to people with disabilities. Everyone gains when we reach out to one another....
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