Where is God’s Perfection?

Where is God’s Perfection?

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 main-streamed into conventional schools. At a Chush
fundraising 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 was 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 as 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 the 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 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. 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 short stop 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.”