Happy 2022 Thanksgiving to all of you

Happy Thanksgiving to all users and staff on iFixit. Enjoy the 🦃 but don’t eat @oldturkey03 😂

@oldturkey03 This year has been a hugely reflective year for me, because of some personal stuff I’ve had to deal with. It should have been dealt with decades ago (tbh it shouldn’t have been an issue at all), but…

One “story” I recently read, made me sit and think for the longest time! I don’t know if it’s a true story, but the meaning is 110% spot on:

“A father of a young boy is struggling very hard to get through to his son. The son has an awful temper, and explodes for the smallest thing, saying and doing very nasty and hurtful things. The father has tried talking, showing and even therapy/ counseling, to no avail.

One day, during a particularly bad temper tantrum, the father gets an idea; He brings out a hammer and a large box of nails, and tells his son: I want you to take a nail from the box, and hammer into the side of that fence! And from now on, every time you feel you’re getting angry and want to say or do something cruel, go outside here and do the same. Take a nail and hammer into the fence.

The son did this, and over the next days, he hammered in numerous nails, but for each day both the son and the father noticed the number of new nails declined. One day a few weeks down the line, the son walked to his father at night and said: I didn’t hammer in a single nail today dad! The father replied: I noticed that as well son, and I want you to know that I am so incredibly proud of you! Doesn’t it feel nice inside to know you went a whole day like this? The son agreed, it did.

Now, the father gave his son another task: For every day from now on that you don’t hammer in a new nail, I want you to remove one of the nails you have previously hammered in! Days and weeks went by, until one day the son ran to his father and showed him a nail and said: This is the last nail I hammered in dad! There are no more nails in the fence!

His father exclaimed again: I can’t tell you how proud I am you my son! You are showing us all what a nice young man you are, and that you can work hard with your emotions. Let’s go outside to the fence and look at it not having any nails in it.

The son showed the way and proudly pointed at the area where there were no nails.

The father then said: You are absolutely right, there are no nails in the fence, but have a look at all the holes and hammer marks in the fence! You have removed the nails, but the marks from them being put in does not go away! The thing I have been telling you is: Had this been words or actions you had said or done to other people, you can say you’re sorry and take it back, but the marks will be there forever, regardless!”

Be kind to each other and help whenever or wherever you can 🥰