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The Power of a Friend |
The Power of a Friend
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, 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, 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 his
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 its
depth.
- Source Unknown
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