There are people who may go through life without knowing that they saved someone’s life without intending to and without knowing it. Today, I want to thank that person who doesn’t know what he did for me.

My youth wasn’t easy. I had great friends, but my generation could be cruel when they set their minds to it. It wasn’t called bullying like it is today; they’d just say they were “picking on you.” Well, they picked on me.

I remember as if it were yesterday: the school Olympics, and everyone was asked to get a uniform. I must have been about 14 years old. Unfortunately for me, everyone was thin except me, so I got a uniform two sizes too small. My genes didn’t help my weight; my “friends” would say I should start using training bras. I remember laughing and crying while I looked in the mirror as the shirt squeezed my less-than-masculine chest. I stretched it as much as I could, used bandages trying to cover myself up like Gwyneth Paltrow in “Shakespeare in Love,” but the force of nature was stronger than the bandages. That day, I suffered the inevitable.

The school bus was a hybrid; it had wooden windows, a metal floor, and a state-of-the-art sound system. The one who brought good music was allowed to play it, and the cassette would play throughout the entire trip, which lasted just over an hour.

I was in a dark place, depressed because I didn’t know what to do and doubted I would ever do well. When I got on the bus, I didn’t want anything to do with anyone; my mind was somewhere else. Head down, sitting at the front, not knowing what to do with my life, Jubilation by Anything Box started playing. The rhythm hooked me immediately, and in the melody, I felt there was a message for me. The cassette belonged to Fernando Holguin, a classmate who brought music to the bus; he was the DJ of the route. I asked Fernando to keep bringing the cassette. When I had worn everyone out from all the repeats, I asked him to lend it to me. I really considered keeping the cassette; it was one of those transparent ones with white letters (not the one in the picture, for those who remember).

“A friend loves at all times, and is like a brother in times of adversity.” Proverbs 17:17

Thank you, Fernando. You have no idea how much a song with a message of hope helped me – that everything passes; we just have to wait and see what God has in store for us. I had God; I had my faith, but I needed something to help me trust and hope for the best. A song that my friend Fernando played was the catalyst that transformed the way I saw things.

We all have the call to be a light to many (Mt 5:14). The interesting thing is that, like Fernando, just by being the best version of yourself, you can already be working a miracle for others. And if you have the chance to help a friend, do it; even the smallest gesture can achieve great things.

God bless you all!

The group Anything Box, of Argentine-Ecuadorian origin, continues to create music that shares messages of hope and the importance of caring for our emotions.