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 all of his books home on a Friday? He must really be a nerd.' I had quite a weekend planned - parties and a football game with my friends the next day - 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 the 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 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 ask him why I had never seen him. He said he had gone to a private school before. I would never have 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 ask 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 that 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 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 and 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 sometimes I was jealous.
Graduation Day 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 that you can give them. I am going to tell you a story."
I just looked at my friend in 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 dad and mom looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.