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The Fence
There
once was a
little boy who had a bad
temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him
that
every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the
back
of the fence.
The
first day
the boy had driven 37 nails
into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he
learned
to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily
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, 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.
Author:
Unknown
Thanks
to Krista
for finding this story
and thanks to Stan for sending it
to
me and for always making
me THINK!
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