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. 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 friend 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, 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 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, "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 bestfriends.
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. 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. 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 it's
depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one
small gesture you can change a person's life. For better or for worse.
