Nails in the Fence…

Presented at Circle Up – 10/22/2019

Once there was a boy with a very bad temper.
His father gave him a bag of nails and told him to hammer a nail in the back fence every time he lost his temper.
By the end of the first day the boy had driven 31 nails into the fence.
But with each passing day, the number of nails driven in gradually dwindled down.
The boy 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 the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold in 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.
“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.

Reference: https://www.startshining.com/story/nails-in-the-fence-a-story-about-anger/