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”
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