A
heart touching Story of Friendship.
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, and 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 right up to 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.
Then 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 a life.”
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. 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, 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 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.
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 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 its 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.
“Friends are angels who lift us to our
feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.”