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[Last Fearner]

The following was sent to me in an e-mail.... I see that it was posted in another thread a few years back, but perhaps more will get a chance to read it again.

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 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 others lives to impact one another in some way.

Look for God in others.

"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 a mystery.

Today is a gift.

Show your friends how much you care. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND.

The above was sent to me by someone who cares about me, and I have shared it with you here.

Chief Master Darwin J. Eisenhart

 

[Ping898]

I've always enjoyed that story, thank you for sharing it here..

 

[MBuzzy]

I love that story, but I feel that it is a real shame that the majority of kids who NEED that friend, never find it. Whether they end in suicide or not, it is horrible. There are plenty of great kids that get treated like garbage by the other kids for no reason at all. Just get singled out and picked on....and it changes their entire lives. Either for the very good or the very bad.

Ok, I'm done now.

 

[IcemanSK]

Thanks for that, sir. This is really great!

 

[terryl965]

It has and always will be one of the most wonderful storys around, thank you.

 

[Catalyst]

I had never seen that before.
Thank you for posting that.

 

[Em MacIntosh]

The depths of those actions can affect many lives. I don't want to get too political but a stance I want to make very clear is human weakness. No matter how strong we are (subjectively speaking) we can never be strong in every area. The mightiest warlord is as vulnerable as a baby while asleep. Columbine. Were they bad people, or did they develop a warped perspective of life from being picked at, picked on by their peers and criticised by the adults who should have attempted to council them? It's complicated but it has to do with cruelty being accepted and somebody has to be the recipient. When there's no help for these people that is effective they may feel no need for justification to hurt those who percievably hurt them or stood by not believing, not caring, contibuting or burying their heads in the sand. Nothing can excuse those actions but the avoidance of trying to explain them and the oversimplified condemnation makes it so that everyone who died, died in vain becasue nobody learned from these things. Write them off as insane, as bad people instead of attempting to figure out what made them insane, what made potentially good people so depressed, distraught, frustrated and hopeless that they indiscriminately kill. People tell others to stop being bleeding hearts and suck it up, "when I was your age...".
This ignorance has to stop or it'll just happen again and again. Kids that get picked on snap. Quit blaming the kid for not being strong enough to take barrage after barrage with a smile and ask a few hard questions. Who's picking on them? What purpose does it serve? Why does it continue? How can we stop it? Take it seriously and educate all children about how dangerous relentless teasing, discrimination and ABUSE can be and for the A-hole kids who still snicker, use real punishments that discourage this kind of behavior like expulsion, harassment charges and juvie time. Also, cameras in the school made me feel safer, and that my testimony was backed up by facts. My rant's over and thank you, I enjoyed that anecdote very much.

 

[MBuzzy]

And though this story has been around for YEARS, how many of the people who read it actually take it to heart. Or use it to teach their children something?

Those of you who do, that is awesome!

 

[Em MacIntosh]

If you're referring to columbine, it's just one example. I'm not even sympathizing, I just hate the simplified daemonization that ignores the root of the problem. The problem is obviously very serious. So they seriously demonize the student, who, at one point, had hopes and dreams, took their first steps, made their mother smile. Might even have baby photos and videos where they are smiling. Full of love and encouragement. Most of us have gotten picked on, excluded or whatever but some kids do get it to such an extreme that they are effectively destroyed and have NO faith in people anymore, then get blamed for being psychos. All because one popular kid wanted a laugh and made a habit of it. Picking on someone for entertainment. We can all handle a joke at our expense but most of us don't get treatment like this. It's easy for us to tell them what to do. It's easy to turn a blind eye.

 

[charyuop]

No offenses, I am sure it is a great story...but I cannot read it.
When I receive these kind of email I cannot go past the second line and I have to click delete.
This is the same thing now, I tried more and more times, but can't go past the 4th line hee hee.

 

[frownland]

I love this line:

Look for God in others.

When I receive these kind of email I cannot go past the second line and I have to click delete.

I don't mind receiving these ones, but the ones that include a promise of good luck if you fwd to ten friends within 5mins, or misfortune for a year if you don't, get an instant delete.