Diablo IV, Diablo 2 and Diablo 3 Forums - Diabloii.Net
Have you ever changed someone's life?
Hello everyone,
For some reason, I don't know why, an incident from my youth came flashing back to me this week.
When I was a senior in high school there was this guy we called "Tiny". As you might figure, he was GROSSLY fat, like 350-400 lbs on a six foot frame. I can't even remember his real name now, that tells you how important he was to me.
Anyway, he was in my gym class in my senior year. We were not friends or anything, he was just another member of the "outcast crowd". The only thing we had in common was that we both HATED the gym teacher, Coach Percy.
It was the end of the year, final exam time. Gym was a blow-off class for me, but for some reason I knew that Tiny needed it to graduate. Anyway, we were running a timed mile as part of our "final exam" in gym. We were doing it on the school track, a standard 1/ 4 mile track, so four laps was your 1 mile time.
I had finished my mile at the tail of the class, good enough to pass for the semsester. As I was "cooling off" near the coaches I saw Tiny just completeing his second lap. About halfway around after his second lap he stopped, put his hands on his knees, and just stood there breathing.
Since I was standing near the coaches, I heard Coach Percy say "You know, if that fat bastard would just finish, I'd pass him".
A light went off in my head....mind you, I wasn't doing this for altruistic reasons, I was doing it to piss off Coach Percy.
I ran across the field to where Tiny was gasping for breath, and told him "Coach said that if you can finish the mile running he will pass you!"
Tiny looked up at me, and started jogging.
I ran along side him, cheering him on. When we passed the rest of the class on his third lap, a few more guys joined in. By the time he hit the finish line on his fourth lap, half the class was tagging along.
I went up to the Coach and said, "He finished, now you gotta pass him!"
Remember, I was just doing this to piss off the coach.
Okay, eight years later....I'm in a conveinience store buying some beer...some guy comes up to me and says "Excuse me, is your name Allen?"
I say "Yes"......he wraps me up in a big bear hug.
It's "Tiny" but about 200 lbs lighter. Apparently my little "hoo-rah" session around the track was the defining moment of his life. He said that no one had ever belived in him before then. After that, he lost half of his body weight, became a successful contractor in the construction business, got married and had three kids, and he feels that he owes everything to me running alongside him that day, cheering him on.
I couldn't tell him that I wasn't doing it to help him, I was doing it to piss off the coach.
He actually had his wife and kids come up to shake my hand and thank me....I was so embarassed, and yet so proud in a strange way.
Not proud of me, proud of him.
You go, Tiny! Kick ***!
Hello everyone,
For some reason, I don't know why, an incident from my youth came flashing back to me this week.
When I was a senior in high school there was this guy we called "Tiny". As you might figure, he was GROSSLY fat, like 350-400 lbs on a six foot frame. I can't even remember his real name now, that tells you how important he was to me.
Anyway, he was in my gym class in my senior year. We were not friends or anything, he was just another member of the "outcast crowd". The only thing we had in common was that we both HATED the gym teacher, Coach Percy.
It was the end of the year, final exam time. Gym was a blow-off class for me, but for some reason I knew that Tiny needed it to graduate. Anyway, we were running a timed mile as part of our "final exam" in gym. We were doing it on the school track, a standard 1/ 4 mile track, so four laps was your 1 mile time.
I had finished my mile at the tail of the class, good enough to pass for the semsester. As I was "cooling off" near the coaches I saw Tiny just completeing his second lap. About halfway around after his second lap he stopped, put his hands on his knees, and just stood there breathing.
Since I was standing near the coaches, I heard Coach Percy say "You know, if that fat bastard would just finish, I'd pass him".
A light went off in my head....mind you, I wasn't doing this for altruistic reasons, I was doing it to piss off Coach Percy.
I ran across the field to where Tiny was gasping for breath, and told him "Coach said that if you can finish the mile running he will pass you!"
Tiny looked up at me, and started jogging.
I ran along side him, cheering him on. When we passed the rest of the class on his third lap, a few more guys joined in. By the time he hit the finish line on his fourth lap, half the class was tagging along.
I went up to the Coach and said, "He finished, now you gotta pass him!"
Remember, I was just doing this to piss off the coach.
Okay, eight years later....I'm in a conveinience store buying some beer...some guy comes up to me and says "Excuse me, is your name Allen?"
I say "Yes"......he wraps me up in a big bear hug.
It's "Tiny" but about 200 lbs lighter. Apparently my little "hoo-rah" session around the track was the defining moment of his life. He said that no one had ever belived in him before then. After that, he lost half of his body weight, became a successful contractor in the construction business, got married and had three kids, and he feels that he owes everything to me running alongside him that day, cheering him on.
I couldn't tell him that I wasn't doing it to help him, I was doing it to piss off the coach.
He actually had his wife and kids come up to shake my hand and thank me....I was so embarassed, and yet so proud in a strange way.
Not proud of me, proud of him.
You go, Tiny! Kick ***!