Friendship

I received a story in my email. A type of email I normally would have deleted and classified as spam, but I read it anyway and took the liberty of translating it to english, because it has a good morale and a message I want to send on. Since I'm not a big fan of chainletters I decided to put it here.

One day in 7th grade I saw a kid on my way home. His name was Morten. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself: "Why carry all his books with him home on a friday?. He must be a geek".
My weekend was planned, party at night and soccer with my friends the next afternoon. I shrugged and continue to walk. Then I saw a bunch of kids running towards him. Then ran into him, kicked and pushed him so he dropped his books and fell on the ground. His glasses fell off and landed in the grass 3-4 meters away. He looked up and he looked so sad, there was no life in his eyes.
I felt bad for him, so I went over to where he was crawling around and looking for his glasses. He had tears in his eyes. I gave him his glasses and said "Those kids were just idiots, they need to get a life!". He looked at me and said: "Hey, thanks!". He was smiling. It was a smile of pure gratitude. I helped him pick up his books and asked where he lived. He lived close to me, so I asked why I had never seen him before. He told me he had gone to a private school. Normally I would never have been hanging out with someone from a private school.
We talked all the way home. He seemed like a great guy, so I asked if he wanted to come play soccer with me and my friends. He said yes.

We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know him, the more I liked him. My friends felt the same way.

Monday morning came and there was Morten again, with his load of books. I stopped him and said "Man, you must be getting really strong carrying all those books everyday!". He laughed and handed me half of the books.

Through the next three years, Morten and I became close friends. When we were in 9th grade we all had to start thinking about further education. Morten decided to go to Århus and I to København. I knew we would always be best friends - despite the distance.
He wanted to be a doctor and I wanted to be a salesman.

At the school-leaving ceremony, Morten was to hold a short speech. I was ribbing him about being a geek. I was happy it wasn't me who was going to be speaking in front of a large crowd.

School-leaving ceremony - I saw Morten, he looked so great. He was one of those guys who really learned to feel good about themselves. He had grown and looked awesome with his glasses. He was dating more than I was. All the girls loved him. Man, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days.
I could tell he was nervous about his speech. I patted his back and say "It'll be great!" he looked at me, said "Thanks" and smiled that grateful smile.
He went up and started his speech...

"School-leaving is a time to thank those who helped through the rough years. Your parents, your teachers, your brother and sisters, trainer and most of all your friends...
I'm here to tell you, that being a friend for somebody is the best gift you can give them. I want to tell you a story." I looked at my friend in disbelief as he was telling the story about the first time we met.
He had planned to kill himself that weekend. He talked about how he had emptied his locker in school so that he mom wouldn't have to that later, and that he was carrying all his books home.
His eyes cought mine and he kept looking at me, smiled and said "Luckily, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the worst imagineable. "
I heard the crowd gasping as this handsome, popular young man was telling us all about his life's most vulnerable moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me, smiling, that same smile full of gratitude that Morten had sent me that day.

Not until that moment, did I realize the value of it... Never underestimate the effect of your actions. A simple gesture can turn another persons life around. For better or for worse. We're all here to put our mark in the world, influence each other in one way or the other.
Always look for the good in others.