Yesterday I was looking through some things I had received over the years. I don't recall who sent me this but after rereading it I felt it deserved a more public forum.
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 friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running towards 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.
I picked up his glasses, handed them to him and 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 where he lived. As it turned out he lived near me, so I asked why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would never hang out with a private school kid. 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 football with me and some of 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 that pile of books everyday!"
He simply laughed and handed me half the books.
Over the next four years we 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 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.
Graduation day and Kyle looked great. He was one of those guys that had 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. Sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days.
I could see 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), smiled and said "Thanks."
As he started his speech, he cleared his throat and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through these tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach ... but mostly your friends ...
I am here to tell you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I'm 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 that weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying all 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 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.
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