Desperately seeking Shay(a) - who did not die

The Story of Shay.

I recently had this story forwarded to me, in the form below. It shows, I think, how oral traditions work in the internet age, how texts are changed in the course of transmission, and how easily a story starts to detach itself from what really happened in order to deliberately evoke emotions in the reader (regardless of truth). Read on, and then read the notes on the original form, and how it has changed.

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?'

The audience was stilled by the query.

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.'
Then he told the following story:

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.

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.'

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 game 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.

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.

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher, recognizing t hat 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.

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.

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 fi rst! 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.

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.

All were screaming, 'Shay, Shay, Shay, all the Way Shay'

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!'

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.

'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'.

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!


I've been backtracking on this "story of Shay". It is a good heart-warming story, but is it true?

> 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!

Answer - probably in part, but importantly Shay didn't die...someone apparently felt the need to overdramatize it and tug at peoples emotions.

I'm not sure of the ethics of that kind of writing, changing a true story to make a more tear-jerking one, and finding that out actually made me rather angry about some unknown editor. The story is strong enough without it.

Actually his name wasn't Shay but Shaya - a Jewish name, not an all-American one!

Anyhow, here are my research notes. The sections with ">" are the current version in circulation, those in italics are originals.

Snopes has probably the earliest version of the story, dated from around 2000 on the internet.

> At a fund-raising 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?'

The original version differs markedly from the one now circulated:

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to children with learning disabilities. Some children remain in Chush for their entire school career while others can transfer into conventional schools. At a Chush fund-raising dinner the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that always be remembered 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 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.'

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."

Note how clearly "god" has been edited out of later redactions of the tale (Richard Dawkins would be pleased!), and Shaya has been changed to the more American "Shay".

The ending is also different:

> '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'.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face, "those 18 boys reached their level of God's perfection."


Notice the return of "god" in the original version and the absence of the sentences speaking about Shay (or Shaya's) death.

But the real source of the story is in fact from "Echoes Of The Maggid: Heartwarming stories and parables of wisdom and inspiration." by Rabbi Paysach Krohn ( Brooklyn: Artscroll Mesorah, 1999. ISBN 1-57819-260-9.)

This is how the Rabbi's version starts and ends - the middle section is more or less identical - and it is interesting that not only does this have the Jewish Shaya, and not the American Shay, but also Jewish terminology (Hashem) which has been changed to the more universal culture-neutral "God".

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 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."

and it ends as follows:

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."

The story quoted above is "Perfection at the Plate," a work of Rabbi Paysach Krohn which appeared in his 1999 book, Echoes of the Maggid.

See this link for the entire story:
http://www.artscroll.com/Chapters/eomh-005.html


Echoes is a "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type work, described by its publishers as "heartwarming stories and parables of wisdom and inspiration." It is the fifth such tome in the Maggid series. Rabbi Krohn says that the story is true and that he was told it by Shaya's father, who is a friend of his.

The "Chush" school mentioned in the piece is the Jewish Center for Special Education on Kent Street in Brooklyn, a school that caters to Yiddish-speaking children of Orthodox Hasidic Jews.

References

http://www.snopes.com/glurge/chush.asp

http://www.artscroll.com/Chapters/eomh-005.html
Original version

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/poetry/po_shay.shtml
Song version by Ed Nolan