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’s 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, but 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 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 going to really build some serious muscles with this pile of books every
day!" 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. 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 about 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. - Author Unknown -
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