Nails in the Fence
In a small village, a little boy lived with his father and
mother. He was the only son.The parents of the little boy were very depressed
due to his bad temper. The boy used to get angry very soon and taunt others
with his words. His bad temper made him use words that hurt others. He scolded
kids, neighbors and even his friends due to anger. His friends and neighbors
avoided him, and his parents were really worried about him.
His mother and father advised him many times to control his
anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their attempts failed. Finally,
the boy’s father came up with an idea.
One day, his father gave him a huge bag of nails. He asked
his son to hammer one nail to the fence every time he became angry and lost his
temper. The little boy found it amusing and accepted the task.
Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and
hammered a nail. His anger drove him to hammer nails on the fence 30 times on
the first day! After the next few days, the number of nails hammered on the
fence was reduced to half. The little boy found it very difficult to hammer the
nails and decided to control his temper.
Gradually, the number of nails hammered to the fence was
reduced and the day arrived when no nail was hammered! The boy did not lose his
temper at all that day. For the next several days, he did not lose his temper,
and so did not hammer any nail.
Now, his father told him to remove the nails each time the
boy controlled his anger. Several days passed and the boy was able to pull out
most of the nails from the fence. However, there remained a few nails that he
could not pull out.
The boy told his father about it.
The father appreciated him
and asked him pointing to a hole, “What do you see there?”
The boy replied, “a hole in the fence!”
He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they
were hammered on people.
You can remove the nails but the holes in the fence
will remain.
The fence will never look the same. It has scars all over.
You can stab a man with a knife, and say sorry
later, but the wound will remain there forever.
Your bad temper and angry words
were like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse!
Use words for good
purposes.
Use them to grow relationships.
Use them to show the love and
kindness in your heart!”
Moral – Unkind words cause lasting damage: Let our words be
kind and sweet.
The little boy then understood how powerful his words were. He
looked up at his father and said "I hope you can forgive me
father
for the holes I put in you."
"Of course I can," said the father.
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