coleen
cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales UK
Posted: May 5, 2008, 9:11 AM CST
One day
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 be a nerd.
I had quite a weekend planned parties and a football, so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids
They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and
tripping him into the dirt.
His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass
He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes
My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him 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. '
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 gonnareally 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
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.
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.
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.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
So all on CS big smile chin and let's get on with life things not so bad