The Fence.

[Kristin Bowers]

The Fence
By Author Unknown

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 young 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 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."

As William Arthur Ward once said,
"It is wise to direct your anger towards problems - not people;
to focus your energies on answers - not excuses."