Vent, not Sent

            The story is told that Salmon Chase, the Treasury Secretary in Abraham Lincoln’s administration, lamented to Lincoln about an individual he had failed to write, “Oh, I am so sorry that I did not write a letter to him before I left home!”

            The President replied, “Chase, never regret what you don’t write; it is what you do write that you are often called upon to feel sorry for.”

            Lincoln would have known. After his death, archivists found strongly worded letters in his files—never sent.

            Sometimes, a letter is better deployed when not sent, but rather when it serves as a private and personal vent. 

A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back (Prov. 29:11.)