佚名

ne 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 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, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, “Those guys are jerks.”

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 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, “You are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books every day!” 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 wasnt 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 themselves 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, youll 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 wouldnt 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.”

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I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his parents 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 you can change a persons life. For better or for worse.

我還在上高一時(shí)，有一天，我看到我們班的一個(gè)孩子正從學(xué)校步行回家。他叫凱爾。他似乎抱著他所有的書(shū)。我想：“為什么有人在周五把所有的書(shū)帶回家呢？他肯定是個(gè)書(shū)呆子?！蔽业闹苣┯?jì)劃得非常豐富（先是派對(duì)，第二天下午再和我的朋友踢足球）。因此，我聳了聳肩，走開(kāi)了。

正走著，我看到一幫孩子朝他跑去。他們追上他，把他所有的書(shū)扔到地上，并把他絆倒。結(jié)果他摔在污泥里，眼鏡也被打飛了，我看到它落在離他十英尺（約三米）遠(yuǎn)的草地上。他抬起頭時(shí)，我看到他極度悲傷的表情。我的心也隨他而去。因此，我向他跑過(guò)去。在他爬著尋找眼鏡時(shí)，我看到了他眼中的淚水。我把眼鏡遞給他，說(shuō)：“那些家伙都是些蠢蛋。”

他看了看我，說(shuō)：“嗨，謝謝了！”笑容在他臉上展現(xiàn)。正是這樣的笑顯示出了真正的感激。我?guī)退麚炱饡?shū)，問(wèn)他住在哪里。原來(lái)他住得離我家很近。于是我就問(wèn)他，怎么以前我從沒(méi)有見(jiàn)過(guò)他呢？他說(shuō)在來(lái)這所學(xué)校以前他上的是私立學(xué)校。

以前，我從不與私立學(xué)校的孩子交往。我們一路聊著回家，我?guī)退弥鴷?shū)。他原來(lái)竟是一位非常討人喜歡的孩子，我問(wèn)他周六是否想跟我及我的朋友一起踢足球。他答應(yīng)了。整個(gè)周末我們都在一起，對(duì)凱爾了解得越多，我越是喜歡他。我的朋友也都這么認(rèn)為。到了周一早晨，凱爾又要抱上那一大摞書(shū)了。我攔下他，說(shuō)：“你每天背這么一大堆書(shū)，想練就一身強(qiáng)壯的肌肉呀？”他只是笑，并把一半書(shū)遞給了我。

接下來(lái)的四年里，凱爾和我成為了最好的朋友。升入高年級(jí)后，我們開(kāi)始考慮上大學(xué)的事。凱爾決定去喬治城，而我要去杜克。我知道我們永遠(yuǎn)都是朋友，距離不會(huì)成為問(wèn)題。他以后想當(dāng)一名醫(yī)生，而我則要用足球獎(jiǎng)學(xué)金經(jīng)商。

凱爾是我們班致告別詞的學(xué)生代表。我總?cè)⌒λ且粋€(gè)書(shū)呆子。他必須為畢業(yè)準(zhǔn)備一個(gè)演講。我很慶幸不是我要站在那兒演講。

畢業(yè)那天，我看到了凱爾，他看起來(lái)帥極了。他是那些在高中真正把握住了自己的人之一。他長(zhǎng)結(jié)實(shí)了，實(shí)際上戴著眼鏡更好看。他的約會(huì)比我的還要多，所有的女孩都喜歡他。有時(shí)候我都有些嫉妒。

今天就是這樣。我能看出他對(duì)于演講有些緊張。因此，我拍了拍他的后背，說(shuō)：“嗨，小伙子，你會(huì)很出色的！”他看了看我，帶著那樣的表情（真正出于感激的那種），笑了?！爸x謝?！彼f(shuō)。開(kāi)始演講時(shí)，他清了清喉嚨，開(kāi)始說(shuō)：“畢業(yè)的時(shí)候，你應(yīng)該感謝那些幫助你度過(guò)困難時(shí)期的人。你的父母、老師、兄弟姐妹，也許還有教練……但主要是你的朋友。我在這兒要告訴你們，做別人的朋友是你能給予他們的最好的禮物。我要給你們講一個(gè)故事。”我不敢相信地望著我的朋友，他講的就是我們第一天相遇的故事。他本來(lái)打算要在那個(gè)周末自殺，他談到自己如何把柜子收拾干凈，把他所有的東西都帶回家，這樣就不用媽媽以后再收拾了。他直直地看著我，給了我一個(gè)笑容?！爸x天謝地，我獲救了。我的朋友阻止了我去做那不堪設(shè)想的事情?！?/p>

當(dāng)這位帥氣的、受歡迎的男孩告訴我們有關(guān)他的最脆弱的時(shí)刻時(shí)，我聽(tīng)到人群深吸了一口氣。我看到他的爸爸媽媽都看著我，帶著同樣感激的微笑。直到那時(shí)我才意識(shí)到它的深刻。

永遠(yuǎn)不要低估你行動(dòng)的力量，一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的舉動(dòng)也許會(huì)改變?nèi)说囊簧?，無(wú)論是好是壞。

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