One for us ... and our friendship .. ....
One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw 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 some of his
books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he
wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes. We
hung out 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, 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 I had
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.
God puts us all in each other's lives to impact one another in
some way. Look for God in others. You now have two choices, you
can:
1) Pass this on to your friends or
2) Delete it and act like it didn't touch your heart.
As you can see, I took choice number 1. "Friends are angels who
lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how
to fly."
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