Kindness
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 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,
"Damn 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 gratefulsmile.
Not until that moment did I
realize it's depth.
Never underestimate the power
of your actions.
With one small gesture you can
change aperson's life.
For better or for worse. God
puts us all in each other's lives
to impact one another insome
way. Look for God in others.