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 friend 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 10 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 and 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 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 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 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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