The Holes in the Fence

Matthew 10:16 says:
"Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves."

I was teaching my Sparks Class from our Church Awana group a couple of weeks ago, and a lady that sits in on class told us this story. Actually, I think it's more of a parable with a powerful message.
I was teaching on the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not murder," and the parable fit perfectly. The thing about the sixth commandment is, God sees hatred as murder. God sees our thought life as well as what we do, and every act that we commit begins as a thought. What that means is simply this, evey sin begins as a thought.
I set up a skit to show our class exactly how harmful our words can be, and how much they can hurt someone. I had the Sparks Director stand up right as I began the lesson and tell me I couldn't teach. She used the excuse that she had to much work to do. We argued back and forth for a moment and I gave up. I walked to the door, opened it, turned back, and said I hate you, and I walked out shutting the door behind me. The Director talked for a minute, called me back in, we apologized to each other, and I went back to teaching.
The Director was the only person other than myself who knew what was going on, so even the other leaders were taken back by what happened. I explained to everyone that what they had seen was only a skit, it wasn't true, gave the Director a hug, and taught. Everyone in the class got the point. That is one lesson I don't think anyone will ever forget. Why do I say this? If you had been there, you would have felt the air being sucked out of the room after I said I hate you. Every student in the class hurt for the Director. I'd say that was maximum impact!
The parable! Build a fence. Then, every time you get ready to do something mean, or say something hateful to someone during the course of a day, take a piece of wood and go nail it up on the fence outside instead. Later, go out and take each piece of wood off the fence, and pull the nails out. When you finish removing all of the nails, take a good long look. Each one of the holes you left in the fence represents what you would have done to that person if you had said or done what you started to.
That is so very true. Each word you speak has an impact on someone. The hateful words always hurt more than we could ever imagine. We as adults in this world need to grow up and learn the hard lessons. Why do I say this?
The Sparks group in question was a class of 1st and 2nd graders. If a group of 1st and 2nd graders can get the message, why can't the adults of our society.