................"A GREAT STORY"................
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 really must 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 landed on 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 handed him his glasses and said "those
guys are really jerks. They should get lives". He looked at me, 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 see him before. He
said he had gone to private schools 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
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, "Damn boy, you are really gonna 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, and the miles
would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor and I was going for a
business degree, on a football scholarship.
Kyle was Valedictorian of our class. I teased him about being a nerd. He
had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having
to get up and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle, he looked great. He was
one of those guys that really found himself during high school, filled out
and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than me and all the
girls love him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days.
I could see that he was nervous about his speech, so I went back and said
"Hey big guy, you'll be great, you always are". He looked at me with one of
those looks (a 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 about a
friend".
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 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 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. I could barely control my tears.
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" |
