The other night we found out that Bryce also made the All Star team for his division in Little League. I won't spend another whole post bragging about my boys...you already know how proud I am of them, but I did want to share something that Bryce said yesterday morning (after he found out the night before that he made All Star) that really touched me.
He came into my room yesterday, just freshly woken, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes and asked me why Brian (another boy on his team) hadn't made All Star.
What you need to know at this point is that Brian has some kind of physical condition that prevents him from really being able to run. He looks like he is running with a limp, and his speed, at best, is about the equivalent of a slow jog for Bryce. I was a little worried at the beginning of the season, wondering how the other boys on the team would treat Brian, if they would become frustrated with him, etc. But the boys always cheered him on and never once made even the slightest complaint when Brian had a great hit but was almost inevitably thrown out at first (though sometimes he did make it on base!). Brian turned out to be the kid with the most team spirit out of any of them; he was always leading the cheering from the bench, yelling at the team to "Hustle in, guys! Hustle in!!" at the end of an inning, and he always tried his best and ran his hardest. And he could hit - pretty hard.
This is what prompted Bryce's concern yesterday. He came in and said "Mom, why didn't Brian make All Star? He can hit really hard, and it doesn't seem fair that he didn't make it just because he can't run. Is that why he wasn't picked?" I tried to explain to him that they couldn't pick everyone, and they weren't discriminating, they were just limited to trying to pick kids that could do pretty well at both hitting and fielding. I was truly touched by his tender heart.
There are many, many days I wonder if I am getting through to my kids at all, with anything. I love those moments that show, whether I am or not, God truly is at work in their hearts.
2 comments:
Aww, what a compassionate young man you've got. Really sweet. Seems like coaches would be wise to consider keeping the kid with the most team spirit on for morale boosters. Ability isn't everything, and your Brian sees that.
Thats cool Jess. It was really cool to see that not only were the players nice to Brian, but parents and coaches didn't coddle him... seems like everyone handled it great and that is obviously good for Brian and the whole team. To bad every kid with a disability doesn't grow up that way.
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