两 个 选 择

　　今天为了找给“老人中心'的老人观看的材料，我看 Youtube 的《力克——没有四肢的人生》(Life without limbs) (在网 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjSj63WXqO0 可以观看。)

　　力克(Nick Vujicic) 是一个澳洲的残障者，在1982年12月4日早上诞生于澳洲墨尔本的一个基督教家庭，他的父亲是一位牧师。力克出生时无手无脚，只得左下肢有一个“小鼓槌（像两只脚趾）”。

　　力克的父母看到这婴儿惊吓地无语问上天，母亲产生情绪困扰不想看，对护士说：“拿走它”。长达几个月父母沮丧、绝望、埋怨、痛苦到终日只能以泪洗面。他们问：“主呀，若神是爱，为何他让这么糟糕的事发生在基督徒的身上？”后来读到雅各书一章2节：“我的弟兄们，你们落在百般试炼中，都要以为大喜乐。”心理总算能接受这个现实。

　　力克长大后进入了主流学校上学。由于身体的缺憾，他在学校常常被人欺负，有些孩子还会言语耻笑，恶意捉弄他。身体残缺深觉自己是别人的累赘，受人奚落而自卑不已，10岁时想结束自已的生命。圣经说上帝以“他的形象”造人，力克问：“那为什么我出生就是没手没脚的畸形儿？为什么让我受难和痛苦？”一想到这里，他对上帝充满着无解的疑惑与莫名的愤怒。

　　后来力克透过稳定的信仰生活，开始发展积极人生，一一去克服别人对他的种种轻蔑、为难与挑战。他努力不懈学习运用“小鼓槌”及颈部肌肉等，终练成能自己穿衣、吃饭、打字、游水，在演讲他表演怎样接听电话，就像作杂技表演。

　　克服别人对他的种种轻蔑、为难与挑战身体缺陷的限制，廿三岁时就完成了大学的财务规划与商学会计双学士学位。

　　他应邀于世界各地演讲他的故事，他的足迹遍及四大洲：踏遍澳洲，包括雪梨、布里斯本等大城市外，也去过非洲肯亚、南非约翰尼斯堡、开普敦、印尼、马来西亚、香港、菲律宾、美国等地。力克身体虽残缺，心智却成熟，懂得感恩，演讲感人。

　　如果你像他那样你会怎么做？自暴自弃？还是勇于面对生活振奋起来?

　　我的大学附近有科学博物及儿童博物馆，乘公共汽车时有时会见老师带领一群“唐氏症候群”(Down Syndrome) 的儿童去参观。

　　唐氏症，亦称为蒙古样痴呆，是第21对染色体之三体性(Trisomies) 畸形导致先天性智力及身体发育障碍，先天性愚型伸舌痴呆。因正常染色体畸变，胚胎性脑发育障碍，表现出特殊面容鼻梁低、外耳小、头较正常人小、枕部扁平、四肢短、手指粗短和智力发展障碍；其智商大概在25至75之间。孩子来自不同族裔及家庭，可是男女面貌形体相似就像兄弟姐妹。

　　他们呈现心智迟缓(Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability)，有一些乘客看到他们往往会呈现不自然和不安的举动。我是怀着悲悯的心，看着他们，祝愿他们那一天能快乐地努力学习一些知识和技能。

　　我曾辅导一位有自闭症的高中生，他不能控制自已，手会拿笔插桌面，在上西班牙语文课的第一天就被驱离课室，老师不要他再来上课。

　　旧约《利未记》21章：“耶和华对摩西说、你告诉亚伦说、你世世代代的后裔、凡有残疾的、都不可近前来献他神的食物。因为凡有残疾的、无论是瞎眼的、瘸腿的、塌鼻子的、肢体有余的、折脚折手的、驼背的、矮矬的、眼睛有毛病的、长癣的、长疥的、或是损坏肾子的、都不可近前来。

　　“祭司亚伦的后裔、凡有残疾的、都不可近前来、将火祭献给耶和华、他有残疾、不可近前来献神的食物。神的食物、无论是圣的、至圣的、他都可以吃。但不可进到幔子前、也不可就近坛前、因为他有残疾、免得亵渎我的圣所、我是叫他成圣的耶和华。”

　　这老师把她的课室当作圣殿，就像旧约《利未记》21章的上帝对摩西讲话，对他的母亲：“孺子不可教”，不能让他来上课。结果这孩子在家里自修，后来 SAT 考试考到很好的成绩而得到奖赏。

　　我听到这个母亲含着泪水讲述她的孩子遭受歧视的故事心里很难过。

　　我们身体健康正常的人，常常忘记身体残缺的人也有尊严，也需要关心爱护。

　　J 大姐把她收集这十年常让她流泪的文章给我，这是一个父亲讲述他的学习迟缓儿子西恩(Shay) 的故事：

　　下次在你遇到有残障人士时，你要什么眼光看他们，你要用什么心态对待他们，请记住你有两个选择。

2010年8月6日

【附录】

Two Choices
Also: g_b What would you do? You make the choice! 19 Jan 2006
(http://www.mail-archive.com/gay_bombay@yahoogroups.com/msg07072.html)
life's journey may your day be a shay day. March 09, 2006
(http://betblue.blogspot.com/2006/03/may-your-day-be-shay-day.html)

What would you do? You make the choice! Don't look for a punch line, there isn't one! Read it anyway. My question is: Would you have made the same choice?

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 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 if Shay could play, not expecting much. 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 put on a team shirt with a broad smile and his Father had 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 the other team 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 be able to 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, but 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 head of the first baseman, out of reach of all team mates. Everyone from the stands and both teams started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!"

Never in his life had Shay ever ran that far but 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 second base. By the time Shay rounded towards second base, the right fielder had the ball, the smallest guy on their team, who had a chance to be the hero for his team for the first time. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag, but he understood the pitcher's intentions and 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, the opposing shortstop ran to help him and turned 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 those watching were on their feet were screaming, "Shay, 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 and 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!

AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY:

We all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices, people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.

If you're thinking about forwarding this message,chances are that you're probably sorting out the people on your address list that aren't the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message. Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to help realize the "natural order of things."

So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that opportunity to brighten the day of those with us the least able, and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?

A wise man once said every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them.

You now have two choices:
1. Delete
2. Forward

May your day, be a Shay Day.