Friendship...Priceless

I got another e-mail today that made me stop and think. I don't know about you but I read things that sometimes really stick with me for hours, sometimes days. Can't seem to stop thinking about it. I will share my thoughts on what I read and perhaps it speak to someone else.

"Never under estimate 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."

This statement was at the bottom of a rather long story about a young man who had been picked on in school. I give you the short story"A kid from class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. He had big thick glasses, holes in his shoes, dirty clothes, and smelled bad. 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." They became friends, the boy grew up to be very popular in his class, with the girls, and valedictorian of the class. Graduation night, 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." He told the story of the first day he met his best friend. 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 his friend and gave him a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

We all know people like this, they don't look the way we look, , they don't dress the way we dress, they don't talk the way we talk and they don't act the way we act, no self-respect. We see them in the grocery store, drug stores, Wal-mart and we think to ourselves "they stink" or "how dirty" we walk the other way. I have been guilty of this myself.
But what I can't seem to stop thinking about with this story is this: What if someone I wouldn't normally speck to were planning to commit suicide or harm some one else, and a simple gesture, a smile, a kind word or a conversation in line at Wal-mart changed they way they were feeling that day. Perhaps it wasn't something as dramatic as killing them self but just feeling depressed, worried, or hopeless. Something that wouldn't cost me anything could be priceless to someone else. I am going to test this to day while I am out. I'm going to look for someone who has stress lines, bratty kids crying for something they can't have because she can't afford to get it, someone who doesn't dress like me, or smell like me. I'm going out with the intention of making someone feel better, smile, laugh today. I will let you know how my experiment works tomorrow.