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There once was a little boy
with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that
every time he lost his temper, he should hammer a nail in the back fence
rather than take it out on other people.
On the first
day, the boy drove 37 nails into the fence. As the days went by, though,
the number of nails gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier
to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the
day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father
about it, and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for
each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed, and the
young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were
gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.
He said,
"You have done well, my son, and I'm very proud of you. But
look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.
Remember
that when you say things in anger, your words leave a scar just like this
one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out, and it won't matter how
many times you say 'I'm sorry'--the wound is still there. A verbal wound
is as bad as a physical one."
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