Food For Thought
One day, when I was new
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 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 some of his books.
He turned out to be a
pretty cool kid.
I asked him if he wanted
to play a little football with 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 carrying 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
the highest ranked student
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 had 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
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.
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