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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, 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 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 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 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."
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