Thoughts from Dr. Joe:

I was brain dead, floating in the doldrums; couldn’t think of a doggone thing to write about. I chanced upon an e-mail sent by my girls’ orthodontist, Dr. Chui. It was a story she thought I’d enjoy.

Dr. Chui was correct in her assumption.

I have a million stories and now I have a million and one. This one however, had a profound message and clued me into the myriad of opportunities that life often sends us, enabling us to enhance our humanity.

I am fascinated by the serendipitous nature of life. I begin each day anticipating the remarkable potential of what circumstance can bring. At any given moment, life gives us exactly what we need: a spoken word, a book, a fleeting thought, or a story sent on a whim. Life only asks two things in return for these serendipitous opportunities: awareness and action.

The story, circulating for years on the Internet, is about a mentally and physically disabled child named Shay, who by happenstance stumbles upon a bunch of boys playing baseball. Shay asks his dad if he thinks they’ll let him play.

“His father inquired and one of the boys said, ‘Sure we’re losing by two runs and it’s the eighth inning; he can bat in the ninth.’ The ballplayers saw the joy in the boy’s eyes at being accepted.

“In the bottom of the ninth with two outs and the bases loaded Shay was scheduled to bat next. Do they let him bat and lose the potential to win the game? They did.

“A base hit was impossible. Shay did not even know how to hold the bat. As he stepped up to the plate the pitcher realized the other team put winning aside for this moment in Shay’s life. Subsequently the pitcher softly lobbed the ball so Shay could make contact. He hit a soft slow grounder right to the pitcher. The pitcher fielded the ball and threw it over the first baseman’s head.

“Both teams began to yell, ‘Run Shay, run.’ In a comedy of intentional errors, Shay rounded third and was deliriously cheered as he touched home plate and became the hero who hit the grand slam and won the game for his team.

“The ballplayers from both teams recognized the moment and brought a semblance of humanity into the world. Shay died the following winter. However, his dad never forgot the joy his son felt as he crossed home plate with the winning run.”

According to snopes.com, this story may or may not be true. It is based on “Perfection at the Plate,” a work of Rabbi Paysach Krohn from his book, “Echoes of the Maggid.” And the child’s name was Shaya, not Shay. Regardless, it touched a chord and brought back an old memory. Many years ago while living in Chicago, I used to hang at Fast Eddie’s, a dive bar in Little Italy. It was a hangout for Vietnam vets. Fast Eddie sponsored a softball team comprised exclusively of veterans. Most of the guys were disabled from the war. A couple played with prosthetic legs. Sal Russo, Donnie Giantelli and I were the only guys who had not been wounded.

We were playing against a rival bar’s team comprised of a bunch of young guys who were pretty good softball players. The team that lost would buy the beer and pizza.

Surprisingly, the game was close; we were down by only two runs in the bottom of the ninth. Somehow we loaded the bases and by a series of errors scored the winning run.

I knew that something was awry and my suspicion led me to believe they purposely threw the game. After the hoopla of our victory subsided I walked over to the other team. “You guys threw the game,” I said. “Why?”

One of their guys stared at me with a sullen eye and said, “Are you kidding me? We didn’t go to Vietnam.”

I smiled and walked away and never forgot the respect they showed us.

JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a professor of education at Glendale Community College and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com.