The Power of Your Actions
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
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
to him and as he crawled around looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in
his eye. I handed him his glasses and said "Those guys are really
jerks. They 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 where he
lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked 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 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 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, "Damn boy, you are
really gonna build some serious muscles with this pile of books ever
day." 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, 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
about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so
glad it wasn't me having to get up and speak. Graduation day, I saw
Kyle, he looked great. He was one of those guys that really found
himself during high school, 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 went back and said "Hey big
guy, you'll be great". He looked at me with one of those looks
(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 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.
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 on 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".
