One afternoon, when I was cleaning out a small storage closet, I found a ball. It was eight or ten inches in diameter. I gathered six of the more active men into a circle at the far end of the ward. Three of the men caught the ball easily. One man let the ball bounce off his chest. Another ignored it entirely. Jerry, the one who ignored the ball, stood motionless, arms at his sides, never reaching for the ball or looking at it – no matter who threw the ball toward him.
We played the game five or six times over the next few days. Everyone improved each time we played – except Jerry. He remained still, expressionless.
Then, one day, after we had been playing for a while, I tossed the ball toward Jerry. He reached out and caught it. His face didn’t change, but mine did. I smiled, big and wide.
From then on, Jerry played.
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