Grabbed this from a Facebook post, too good not to use.

My daughter starts middle school this week.  She did all the usual back to school preparations: decorated her locker, bought new uniforms, even surprised her with a new backpack.  Then, on the night before the first day of school, I took out a plate and a tube of toothpaste and calmly squeezed the whole tube onto the plate.

When finished, I asked her to put all of the toothpaste back in the tube. She looked at it as an impossible task.  My daughter began to say I can’t.

The mother’s response:

You will remember this plate of toothpaste the rest of your life.  Your words have the power of life or death.  As you go into middle school, you are about to see just how much weight your words carry.  You are going to have the opportunity to use your words to hurt, demean, slander and wound others. You are also going to have the opportunity to use your words to heal, encourage, inspire and love others. You will occasionally make the wrong choice;  I can think of three times this week o have used my own words carelessly and caused harm.  Just like the toothpaste, once the words leave your mouth, you can’t take them back.