That story...
Submitted by Huck Finn on December 22 2000 11:34:19
In reply to Perfection… submitted by Andy on December 22 2000 11:05:59
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has me sitting here with tears rolling down my face. Thank you so much for sharing that! Perhaps I can add another story to the list! Sometimes kids are just so precious! And THAT'S WHY I LOVE THEM! Another Baseball story. Just Ben --Adrian Wagner I remember the day very well. It was late August and quite chilly outside. I was coaching a soccer team for kindergarten and first-graders, and it was the day of our first practice. It was cold enough to the point where all of the cute little boys and girls were bundled up in extra sweatshirts, jackets, gloves and mittens with those cute little straps connected to the sleeves of their jacket. As was normally the case any time I was coaching a new team, we took the first few minutes to get to know one another. I do this for the kids as much as for myself; it often seems that kids don't get along as well with one another unless they know and remember each other's names. On this particular day, I sat the kids down on the dugout bench---soccer in Austin is played on the outfield grass at the softball complex. We went up and down the row a few times, each kid saying his or her name and the name of all the kids to their left. After a few frustrating minutes of this, I decided to put the kids to the ultimate test. I asked for a volunteer who thought he or she knew the name of all eleven kids on the team and could prove it to all of us right then. There was one brave little six-year-old who felt up to the challenge. He was to start at the far-left end of the bench, go up to each kid, say that kid's name and then shake his or her right hand. Alex started off and was doing very well. While I stood behind him, he went down the row - Dylan, Micah, Sara, Beau, and Danny - until he reached Ben, by far the smallest kid on the team. He stammered out Ben's name without much trouble and extended his right hand, but Ben would not extend his. I looked at Ben for a second, as did Alex and the rest of the little ones on the bench, but he just sat there, his right hand hidden under the cuff of his jacket. "Ben, why don't you let Alex shake your hand?" I questioned. But Ben just sat there looking at Alex and then at me and then at Alex once again. "Ben, what's the matter?" I asked. But he still just sat there with a blank, far-away look in his eyes. Finally he stood up looked up at me and said, "But coach, I don't have a hand," after which he unzipped his jacket, pulling it away from his right shoulder. Sure enough, Ben's arm ran from his right shoulder just like every other kid on the team, but unlike the rest of his teammates, his arm stopped at the elbow. No fingers, no hand, no forearm. I'll have to admit, I was taken back a bit and couldn't think of anything to say or how to react, but thank God for little kids-- and their unwillingness to be tactful. "Look at that," said Alex. “Hey, what happened to your arm?" another asked. "Does it hurt?" Before I knew it, a small crowd of ten players and a bewildered coach encircled a small child who was now taking off his jacket to show all those around him what they all wanted to see. In the next few minutes, a calm, collected 6-year-old explained to all of those present that he had always been that way and that there was nothing special about him because of it. What he meant was that he wanted to be treated like every other kid on the team. And he was from that day on. He was just Ben, one of the players on the team. Not Ben, the kid with one arm. Hope you enjoyed that. Huck |
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