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 fewer 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 him: “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 added: “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.
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