a short story
There was a boy who was always losing his
temper. His father gave him a bag full of nails and said to him, “My
son, I want you to hammer a nail into our garden fence every time you
need to direct your anger against something and you lose your temper.”
So the son started to follow his father’s advice. On the first day he
hammered in 37 nails, but getting the nails into the fence was not easy,
so he started trying to control himself when he got angry. As the days
went by, he was hammering in less nails, and within weeks he was able to
control himself and was able to refrain from getting angry and from
hammering nails. He came to his father and told him what he had
achieved. His father was happy with his efforts and said to hi “But now,
my son, you have to take out a nail for every day that you do not get
angry.”
The son started to take out the nails for each day that he did not get
angry, until there were no nails left in the fence.
He came to his father and told him what he had achieved. His father took
him to the fence and said, “My son, you have done well, but look at
these holes in the fence. This fence will never be the same again.” Then
he adde “When you say things in a state of anger, they leave marks like
these holes on the hearts of others. You can stab a person and withdraw
the knife but it doesn’t matter how many times you say ‘I’m sorry,’
because the wound will remain.