Sunday, November 8, 2009

Look for God in others ... :)

I received this story as a forwarded mail recently.  I don't know who wrote it but the story is profound and worth sharing. Hopefully , it will inspire us all to reach out to others :)




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 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 them about 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 its depth.



Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture of yours, you can change a person's life ; for better or for worse. God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way. Look for God in others :)

19 comments:

Thousif Raza said...

that is so inspiring of a story ekam really, i was so very glad to read it, i am so happy that you shared it here, thank you, your words have inspired, at least me for sure :)



take care and keep writing........

Pramoda Meduri said...

hey..i loved ur last three lines..:) and inspiring story tooo..thanks for sharing..

Anuraag said...

hmm..touching!

Anoop said...

i liked the story a lot.. :D
really nice,,, :D

Mads said...

read this story as a forward and really liked the last 3 lines u wrote.
:)

Rahil said...

As everyone else has said..the last three lines were the most encouraging ones !! Thanks for sharing it.

Mahesh Sindbandge said...

Awwww...thats very moving....m speechless too....God bless him who wrote this story....surely it is worth reading..

Thanks for sharing ekam :)

Guria said...

I cannot tell you how MUCH I liked this story.... You are a wonderful story-teller! :)

Mahesh Sindbandge said...

You dont like fiction 55 kya? generally see many commenting on it cuz its the shortest post but u didnt... bolo bolo *lookin at you with narrow eyes*

jus kidding :)

Musings of a lonely traveler said...

Ekam! although I read this story long back, appeared fresh in your words...such an inspiring story to start my day with...Good read Ekam :)

HaRy!! said...

throughly an inspiring post, sometimes the help we do, can do wonders...just takes a shrug to go on, but if yu turn back...there this story comes now !! lovely piece! :D

Anonymous said...

an inspiring post..
a good always pays..

Dhanya said...

This was so good! Almost had me in tears. Very touching. Each one of us can make another person's life easier by just being nice to them coz we dunno who is going thru a hell of a time. Thanks for sharing! :)

The Furobiker said...

touchy stuff.. phew.. loved it!!

Me said...

:) Thanks for sharing it. Read it in office.

Shruti said...

Hey ekam loved this a lot!!

Jason said...

This is my first visit, but I'm very impressed with your blog. I have a blog myself that provides inspiration and guidance to millions of people around the world. I was wondering if we could do a link exchange to spread some traffic around. Let me know if this is cool.

Jason
TheWISDOMWALL.com

Eswari said...

Ekam,

nice post..thanks for sharing

Jaunty anima said...

Ekam...what a beautiful story...this one!!!
Gosh..we just never know what a small gesture may result in...could be either anabolic or catabolic...but in the end 'Small things count':)