This is a Wonderful Lesson in Life
A very touching story I got from someone :)
It started out like this.....
One day, when I was a freshman in high
school, I saw a kid from my class 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 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 a tear in
his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said: "Those
guys are jerks. They really should get a life."
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 his books. 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. 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, "Darn 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. 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." 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. God puts us all
in each other's lives to impact one another in some
way.Look for God in others.
You now have two choices, you can:
1) Pass this on to your friends; or
2) Delete it and act like it didn't touch your
heart.
As you can see, I took choice number 1.
Angels who lift us to
our feet when our wings
have trouble remembering
how to fly."
Life comes to you in abundance
every moment of every day, and it speeds away from you
just as fast.
Use it while you have it. That
means right now!