One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from
my class
was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was
carrying
all of his books. 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 at 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. 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, and I saw a tear in his eye.
As I handed
him his glasses, I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should
get
lives." 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
out all weekend
and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him. Monday morning
came,
and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and
said, "Damn
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, we 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.
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.
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
hewas 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 Kyle 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." Iheard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular
boy told
usall 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
it'sdepth. Never underestimate
the power of your actions. With one small
gestureyou 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.
