There
once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a
bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he
must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.The first day, the
boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks,
as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered
daily gradually dwindled down. He 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 that the boy
now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold 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. 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 leave a
scar just like this oneYou 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