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, and 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.
Look for God in others. “Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when
our wings have
trouble remembering how to fly.”
