Random Acts of Kindness
Think About It….
“If I judge another person this does not make them worthy of being judged but rather shows me as a person who needs to judge”
“If I call you stupid it does not make you stupid but shows me as a person who needs to call you stupid”
A random act of kindness is worth more and better for you than antidepressants. It will come back to you ten fold by increasing the endorphins and the serotonin in your body and will make you feel really, really good.
The Story of Shia
Shia’s father was speaking at a special school in New York where his physically challenged son was a pupil and he asked “Where is the perfection in my son? The other kids his age can read and write way better than he can. They can play sports and are more physically adept than my son.”
The crowd went silent; they were stunned by what Shia’s father had said. But then he continued, “But where I think God sees the perfection in my son is in the way others react to him. Let me show you an example of what I mean. Shia’s father goes on to tell the following story.
Shia is a little boy who is physically challenged. His legs and arms are weak and he is not well coordinated, but he is the apple of his father’s eye.
One day he and his father are out for a walk and he sees some of the kids from the neighborhood playing baseball and he would dearly love to play with them.
So he asks his father if he would be able to join in and play baseball with the other kids from the area.
His father knows that Shia is not very good physically and would not be able to play well with the others but he also knows that if his son did play then it would give him the greatest feeling of belonging, and that is something which, sadly, was in short supply for his beloved son. It was something which because of his challenges, he had never felt before with other kids of his age.
Shia’s father says he will ask, and so he goes over to the nearest boy and asks if his son can play with the team.
The boy looks around as if to get help from his friends in making the decision but no-one is near so he makes the decision himself.
He knows that they are 8 runs down and have little hope of victory so he says yes, I guess we can put him in on the 9th innings.
They reckon he will not make much difference since they are so far down, so they give Shia a glove and send him out to field. Shia runs all around the field but has little chance of touching the ball given his physical problems. His father watches him proudly, with tears almost starting to come down his cheeks.
The game starts to go well for them and they pull back some runs and then all of a sudden it is level.
But wait, it is the last innings and it is Shia’s turn to bat
Everyone wonders if he will be allowed to bat in the last innings as they could now actually win the game. What will happen???
Surprisingly he is allowed to bat and he takes his place proudly, smiling from ear to ear. His father has never seen him so happy.
The pitcher on the opposing team knows about Shia’s physical problems and instead of pitching hard against someone he knows won’t be able to strike back he throws in a slow underhand ball so Shia can hit it
Shia swings wildly and clumsily and misses the ball by a mile. Undeterred he sets himself up again for the next pitch.
One of his team mates, sensing his problems, comes out of the dug out and gently helps him hold the bat.
The pitcher sends in another slow underhand ball and with the help of his teammate he strikes a slow ball out towards the pitcher.
The pitcher could have easily caught it, but decides not to.
The smiling Shia starts running as fast as his little legs could carry him towards first base with everyone shouting “Run Shia, Run”
Then fielder picks up the ball and throws it towards pitcher but purposely throws it in a long looping arc way past him.
Everyone now shouts “Shia, Shia, run for second base”
The other fielders, who now know what the intention of their team is, take their time in getting to the ball.
By now the smiling Shia is at second base and both his team and the opposing team are all running behind him shouting “Run for third base Shia, run for third base.”
Shia, who is by now very tired, runs all the way to third base with everyone on both sides cheering him on like never before.
At last he reaches third base and it is clearly evident that his little legs are about to give out on him, but Shia is a fighter and won’t let anything hold him back. The young boys on his team can see this so they gently hold him at each side and shout “Run for home Shia, run for home”
With his little legs practically worn out and his team members helping him he eventually reaches home base and all of the 18 players on both sides lift the exhausted boy above their heads and start chanting “Shia, Shia, Shia”.
But although Shia is extremely excited and happier than he has ever felt before he doesn’t forget his father and starts looking all around to see where his father is. Eventually he sees father on the sidelines and with a loving smile which seems to encompass his whole face he beckons his father to come over.
His father, with great pride but with the tears now streaming down his face and his heart pounding, runs over to help hold up his young son. He had never been more proud of anything or anyone in his whole life.
For that one moment in time Shia was accepted as an equal, a team mate.!!
Shia’s father believes that those 18 players done more good in terms of building Shia’s self esteem than anything else in his young life up to that point . Just this one act of kindness meant so much to Shia, and to his father. But even more than that, Shia’s father went on to say that he believes that those 18 boys that day reached their level of God’s perfection .
That one act of kindness has now been told to millions of people and no doubt moved many to perform random acts of kindness through out the world.
Thank you Shia and thank you to those 18 young boys who showed such kindness that day.
Now it’s up to whoever is reading this story to do some little thing today in memory of Shia, to make the world a better place.
Just imagine how good your workplace would be if everyone treated their work colleagues the way the baseball players treated Shia that day. It’s up to you to start the revolution. Send this
link to as many friends and colleagues as you want to share it with. You’ll be very glad that you did and your workplace will become "an even better place to work".
Have a great day in memory of Shia – Jeff Campbell
High Performance Employees – “Corporate Business Training at it’s very Best”
