Delivered-To: zanadu@lumal.com
Date: Fri, 19 Apr 2002 17:27:53 -0700
From: Randy Brooks
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." 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. "Friends are angels who lift
us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."
There is no beginning or end..Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is mystery.
Today is a gift.