Sharing the Load
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 tears in his
eyes. 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 helped him carry all his stuff. 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 out all weekend and
the more I got to
know Kyle, the more I liked him. 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 me and
all the girls
loved him! Boy, sometimes 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!"
He looked at me
with one of 'those' looks (the really grateful ones)
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 was
so tired of not
fitting in and having no friends that he 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 all of
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
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.
Don't be the one who pushes someone else in the dirt,
be the one who
picks him up, brushes him off, and helps him carry his
load.
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