Post by CC on May 14, 2005 20:35:36 GMT -5
Many years ago I was living in California and doing some tutoring in a public school. One day I had my guitar with me and, as I passed a 'special-ed' class, was asked by the teacher if I could spend a few minutes entertaining her class. I went in and played for the kids, who seemed to enjoy it. One boy in particular had a great time and took to following me around. One of my volunteer activities at the school was to umpire for the 5th and 6th grade boys' softball games - little Timmy tagged along with me that day after I had played for his class and asked me if he could play ball with the boys. So I told the others that he was going to play and they started complaining. I told them either he played or nobody played. They reluctantly agreed and Timmy took a place in the field. A ball was hit to him that just bounced off his chest and another boy had to pick up the ball and throw it in. When they came up, I noticed that the boys had batted around but Timmy still had not had a turn, so I told them to let him hit. Again they reluctantly agreed and he stepped to the plate; the first pitch was over his head and he took a wild swing and didn't come close; the second pitch bounced on the ground and he took another cut without coming close. I told the pitcher to put it where he could hit it and he grooved one. Timmy put his bat straight out and it met the ball, which flew into right-centerfield. The boys had to tell Timmy to run to first and then had to tell him to run from there to second. The batted ball continued to roll and his teammates urged Timmy to run until he had crossed the plate with the go-ahead run. The bell rang and we had to go in, but not before all the boys had slapped Timmy on the back, congratulating him for winning the game. As we walked back to class, he looked up at me with shining eyes and thanked me for letting him play. I have a feeling that he never forgot that day, but my most fervent hope was that the other boys would remember that even the least likely person can be a winner if given a chance.
-- Douglas Treadway
-- Douglas Treadway
