Friends

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school carrying a huge pile of books. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying every textbook from every class.

I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd. On the other hand, I had a big weekend planned (two parties and a football game with my friends the following afternoon). I shrugged my shoulders and continued on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran directly into him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so hard he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying and landed 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 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 genuine gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived very close to me. I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school until this year. I wasn’t the kind of guy to hang out with the preppy private school kids so we did not meet before now. We talked all the way home, and I helped carry some of his books. He turned out to be a really cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends next day and he said “yes”.

We ended up hanging out the whole weekend. The more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him and so did my friends. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle walking back to school with the huge stack of books. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and I offered to carry half the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became the best of friends. When we were seniors, we started to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke but I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be an issue. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for a business degree on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our senior class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd and having to give a speech at graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak in front of the crowd.

On graduation day, I saw Kyle and he looked great! He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He grew in height, had a great physique and actually looked good in glasses. In fact, he had more dates than me and all the girls adored him. At times I was jealous. Today was one of those days but 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! - you got this!” He looked at me with one of those looks (the genuinely grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," was all 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, teachers, siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the absolute best gift you can give them. Now, 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 that 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 Friday afternoon. He looked directly at me and gave me a heartfelt 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 saddest, 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. Look for God in others.  "Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly." 

The Thanksgiving leftovers are finished and we are heading full speed into the holiday season with all the excitement, parties, food and gift-giving. This year, try something new: rather than getting caught up in the materialistic consumerism, consider giving what is truly important: love; friendship; support, time, presence and forgiveness. Perhaps you could volunteer, do a coat drive or babysit for an exhausted single mother. For many, this is a challenging and lonely time of year - now made even worse due to the pandemic. Take a moment and reach out to someone who needs a lift - you never know where one small gesture of kindness may lead.

by Author Unknown