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 here 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, 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 macked im 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 hisspeech, 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 om 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.