One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a
kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like
he was carrying all of his books, and I thought to myself, “Why would anyone
bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.”
I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football
game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went
on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran right
up to him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed
in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about
ten feet from him.
Then he looked up, and I saw this terrible sadness in
his eyes. My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him and as he crawled
around looking for his glasses, i saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his
glasses, I said, “Those guys are jerks. They really should get a life.”
He looked at me and said, “Hey thanks!” There was a
big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I
helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out,
he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he
had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a
private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried his books.
He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if
he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes. We
hung all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my
friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with
the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, “Boy, you are gonna
really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!”
He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the
next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, began to
think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke.
I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles
would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for
business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class and I
teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for
graduation. I was so glad it wasn’t me having to get up there and speak.
On Graduation Day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was
one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out
and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the
girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So,
I smacked him on the back and said, “Hey, big guy, you’ll be great!” He looked
at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one), and smiled. “Thanks,”
he said.
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and
began.
“Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you
make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings,
maybe a coach… but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being
a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you
a story.”
I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told
the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the
weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker, so his Mom wouldn’t
have to do it later, and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and
gave me a little smile.
“Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from
doing the unspeakable.” I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome,
popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his Mom and Dad looking
at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize
its depth.
Never underestimate the power of your actions. With
one small gesture you can change a person’s life, for better or for worse. God
puts us all in each other’s lives to impact one another in some way.
“Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our
wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”
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@inphomaniiac
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