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What Friends Can Do
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 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 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, 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, 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, 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
I had 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 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. 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.
"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet
when our wings have trouble
remembering how to fly
Eleanor Roosevelt wrote:
Many people will walk in and out of your
life, but only true friends will leave
footprints in your heart. To handle yourself,
use your head; to handle others, use your
heart. Anger is only one letter short of
danger. If someone betrays you once, it is
his fault; if he betrays you twice, it is your
fault.
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