Mark was walking home from school one
day when he noticed the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the
books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a
small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered
articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the
burden. As they walked Mark discovered the boy’s name was Bill, that he loved
video games, baseball and history, and that he was having lots of trouble with
his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend. They
arrived at Bill’s home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch
some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some
shared small talk, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around
school, had lunch together once or twice, and then both graduated from junior
high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief
contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came and three
weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.
Bill reminded him of the day years ago
when they had first met. “Did you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things
home that day?” asked Bill. “You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn’t
want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother’s
sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some
time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I
would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see,
Mark, when you picked up those books that day, you did a lot more, you saved my
life.”
John W. Schlatter (true story)
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