SHORT INSPIRING STORY: HOLE IN THE FENCE

A little boy grew up with his father and mother in the village. He was the only son. He makes the parents feel depressed due to his bad temper which he never accepted he had. The little boy used to get angry unnecessarily and taunt others with his words. His bad temper made him speak unruly words to people whether children or adult even without having any remorse. These traits invited all worries for his parents as reports of his bad manners keep coming to them. While he forgot what he spoke in anger, his friends and neighbours avoided him.

On several occasions his parents had consoled him in many ways to give up his anger and develop kindness to people but it had fell on deaf ears. 

However, one day his father came up with an idea, he gave him a huge bag of nails. He asked his son to hammer one nail to the fence every time he became angry and to lose his temper. The boy seeing his bad attitude to people was really becoming a concern, accepted to do what his father said.

The nails drove him to hammer in the fence for 20 times on the first day! Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and hammered a nail. In the next few days, the number of nails hammered on the fence was reduced to half. With this task, he controlled his temper gradually as he found it very difficult to hammer the nails.

Gradually, the number of nails hammered to the fence was reduced and the day arrived when no nail was hammered! Yet, the boy did not lose his temper. He told his father that it was several days that he did not hammer any nail and he did not lose his temper!  

Now, his father told him to remove the nails every day as he had 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 the boy could not pull out.  

When the father asked him about the ones he couldn't pull out, he said he tried but could not get them out.  His father smiled and appreciated his effort. He asked him, pointing to the hole, ‘what do you see there son?’ ‘Holes in the fence!’   The boy replied.

He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered on people. Though to an extent, you can remove the nails but still see the holes in the fence. Again, you cannot pull out a few nails. This is to tell you that if you stab a man with a knife, the wound scar will remain there forever. Your bad temper and anger were like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse! Learn to use them for good. Use them to embrace the relationships. Use them to show your heart! Use them to praise and not to hurt”