The drill, the hammer and the wrench

I wrote this story yesterday for a friend of mine who is 4 years old. And, because I wish someone would have told it to me when I was 4.

The drill, the hammer and the wrench by Clint Walkingstick

As the sun began to rise one morning, he spotted a construction site. The tools on the site were already hard at work building a house. The sun began to focus his attention on what was going on between all the tools as they worked. He listened in on their conversation and was a witness to the following events.

At the construction site there was a wise old drill who had completed many houses. He was well-known among the tools for his positive attitude and was admired by many construction sites because of the skill and expertise he’d show as he did his work. One day, as he was working, he heard a strange sound.

Whack, WHACK, CRACK! The wise old drill looked around to see where the sound was coming from but all the other tools on the site just kept working on what was in front of them. He heard the strange sound again; Whack, WHAck, WHACK, CRACK!

The wise old drill stopped what he was doing for a moment and made his way to the other side of the construction site. When he finally arrived, he found what was making the strange sound. Among the saws, a young hammer, about the age of 25, was hitting beams of wood until they broke under his powerful whacks.

The hammer, with sweat dripping from his head would pound away at the wood beams. One after another the beams would give way with a loud CRACK! The broken, jagged pieces of wood were piled up on the ground in front of the hammer. So much so that the saws he was around would have to saw the splintered pieces away so the beams would be flat on both sides.

As the young hammer pulled back to take another whack, the wise old drill shouted “STOP!” The young hammer, now out of breath, looked over at the drill. “Why did you tell me to stop, I’ve got to get back to doing my job. If I stop doing my job I can’t get paid. If I don’t get paid I can’t feed my family!” The young hammer sounded frantic, scared, confused and downright frustrated.

It was at this point that the wise old drill asked, “Why are you whacking these wood beams and breaking them in half?” The young hammer frowned at the drill and said, “Because that’s what they taught me to do in school. I come from a family of hammers who have always whacked wood beams in half for a job. My old mom and dad still have jobs breaking beams. Because that’s what they were taught in school. They told me that if I want to be successful and provide for a family, the best way to do it was to pay attention in school and do exactly as I was taught. They told me to work hard at breaking beams the best I could so that I can get a great job with a big construction company that gave its tools health benefits for breaking wood beams all day long.”

The young hammer continued, “I work hard everyday to break these beams in half. I’m getting pretty good at it too. Just leave me alone and let me do my job!” The wise old drill did not like getting yelled at. He wanted all the tools to be as happy as he was when he did his work.

The wise old drill could tell that the young hammer was frustrated with his job. He decided that, although he did not like getting yelled at by the hammer, it was the hammer’s frustration that was causing him to yell. So, the drill decided to not let his feelings get hurt by the young hammer. Instead, the drill decided he was going to help the hammer.

The wise old drill cleared his throat and said to the young hammer, “There is someone you should talk to.” The hammer, still in a bad mood looked at the drill, “I don’t need to talk to anybody, I need to do my job.” Undaunted, the drill leaned in and said, “I used to be just like you hammer. I used to mix concrete all day. I would work and sweat and get tired, but I kept mixing away. I worked with shovels who would always get the job done faster and better than me. It would make me angry at them, angry at myself for not being as good or as fast as they were at the job of mixing.”

The young hammer began to listen to the wise old drill. Then the hammer got really quiet and asked the drill, “But, you’re known throughout the construction site for your positive attitude and your skill. What changed?” The drill said, “One day I wound up at the feet of the Carpenter.”

“The who!?” exclaimed the hammer. “The Carpenter,” said the wise old drill. “You see hammer, all the tools on this construction site and all the other sites in the world think that they know what job is best for themselves to be happy and to provide for their family. But the Carpenter is the one who is really in control. He’s the one that organizes the entire job of building these houses, and he knows the perfect kind of work for each tool.”

The young hammer was stunned. And then he became a little upset at what the wise old drill was saying. “You mean to tell me that I’ve been working hard all this time when all I had to do was wait for this “Carpenter” who can magically make me better at breaking these wood beams in half?” the hammer snipped. “No,” the drill said. “You don’t wait for him to show up, you look for him. If you look for him, you’ll find him. More importantly, he’ll find you. If you look for him everyday, you’ll find him and be able to ask questions and ask him for his help as you work to build houses.”

“I have heard enough!” the young hammer yelled. “It’s late and it’s time to go home. I’m tired and hungry and have had enough of your fairy tales, you glorified screwdriver!” The wise old drill would not give in. As the hammer was leaving for the day, the wise old drill said, “You’re probably right hammer. But, just to prove me wrong, tomorrow morning, take a moment and look for the Carpenter.”

The sun went to sleep that night with a smile. He was excited because he knew what was in store for the bright young hammer. The next morning, as the sun rose on that same construction site, he carefully focused his attention and listened in.

As the bright young hammer arrived at the construction site, the sun was still rising. The hammer was still confused at what the wise old drill had told him the day before. He began preparing for the job that day by gathering a fresh pile of wood beams. Then, the bright young hammer stopped for a moment. The hammer then got very quiet and began to look around the construction site as the other tools began arriving and preparing for their work. Standing silently, as if he’s been there the whole time, the Carpenter quietly said,“Good morning bright young hammer.”

This startled the hammer a little bit because he didn’t expect to even find the Carpenter, let alone find him standing right next to his pile of wood beams. The Carpenter said, “A wise old drill had a conversation about you with me last night. He told me that you might be looking for me this morning.”

The bright young hammer was filled with questions and was a little bit upset with the Carpenter for not coming to find him. He looked up to see the Carpenter’s face but the Carpenter had his back toward the sun. The sun was right behind the Carpenter’s head and was shining into the hammer’s eyes. All the hammer could make out was the beard on the Carpenter’s face. The hammer asked, “Do you even know who I am?“

The Carpenter smiled, “Yes, bright young hammer. In fact, I know exactly who you are. I studied and planned for a very long time and perfected all the pieces that make you the tool you are today. I was so excited when I finally put you together. I made all the tools you see and work with here on the construction site.”

Hearing this, the bright young hammer got a little angry and said, “Then why am I not as good as the saws who can cut the wood beams with precise flat ends! It this all your fault! I guess I’m just not good enough.”

At that the Carpenter reached down and held the bright young hammer in his hand and yelled, “How DARE you say you’re not good enough!“ Then he whispered, “I made you, you are good enough.” Then the Carpenter screamed, “I MADE YOU MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH. I MADE YOU EXCELLENT!” Whispering again, the Carpenter said, “So go be what I made you, go be an excellent hammer.”

The bright young hammer felt small in the hand of the Carpenter. He felt scared and unsure of what was about to happen. With his other hand, the Carpenter set a nail up on its sharp end against one of the beams the hammer had piled up. Then, in one swift motion, the Carpenter swung the hammer toward the nail. PAAAANNNGGG! When the hammer heard this new sound, the fear and anger he once had melted away. He felt great! He looked around and the Carpenter was gone but all the tools on the construction site were stopped and silently looking at the bright young hammer.

Astonished, one of the saws slowly asked the hammer, “How did you do that?” The bright young hammer said, “I don’t know, I just swung toward this nice nail and he disappeared into the wood beam. The nail, now successfully stuck in the wood beam, spoke up and said to the hammer, “You’re exactly who we’ve been waiting for! You must meet my friends and my whole family! We’ve been waiting patiently for someone just like you to help us and give us the opportunity to build this house!” The lead saw made his way over to the bright young hammer and said, “Would you mind showing us that again?” “Not at all!” said the bright young hammer.

Three more nails jumped up on their sharp end on top of one of the wood beams. The bright young hammer pulled back like he’d always known to do and PANG! PANG! PANG! With almost no effort at all he drove the nails into the wood beam. The hammer thought, “I could do this all day and never get tired!” One by one the nails would hop up onto where they wanted to be and right behind them was the bright young hammer, driving them into the wood beams one by one.

All the tools on the constructions site were amazed at how well the bright young hammer did his work. In no time, the house they all were working on was complete.

The hammer was happy and excited to help create many more houses the same way he helped make that first house. He became well known among the tools for his positive attitude and was admired by many construction sites because of the skill and expertise he’d show as he did his work.

Many years later, the hammer was helping to build another house. As he was working, he heard a strange sound. Scrape, SCRAPE, PANK! The wise and helpful hammer look out on the construction site and saw something strange.

It was a wild young wrench who was trying to hammer nails into wood beams! The hammer made his way over to the wrench. When he got there, the wrench was crying. The wise and helpful hammer felt compassion for the wild young wrench because he wanted all the tools to be as happy as he was when he did his work.

The hammer asked, “Why are you crying wrench?” The wild young wrench looked up and said, “I’ve been working hard all day long to push these nails into wood beams. But as hard as I may try, all I end up doing is breaking the nails in half.” The hammer said, “You know wrench, I know exactly how you feel. But I have good news! I know someone that you should talk to.”

The sun slowly went to sleep that night with a smile. He was happy because he was able to shed a little light on the story of the drill, the hammer and the wrench.

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