There 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, to
hammer a nail in A back
fence.
The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the
fence. Then it 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.
You have done well, my son, but look at the holes
in the fence. The fence will
never be the same. When you say things in anger,
they leave a scar just like
this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw
it out, 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.