nail in the fence

another nice and meaningful fwd mail that i keep. hehe...

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bagof nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammera nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the nextfew weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold histemper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day camewhen the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it andthe father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day thathe was able to hold his temper. able to tell his father that all the nailswere gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence.He said, "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 leavea 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 stillthere."

A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourageyou to succeed. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and theyalways want to open their hearts to us."