Bad Temper
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 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."
