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NAILS
IN THE FENCE
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. Friends are very rare
jewels,
indeed! They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They
lend an
ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open
their
hearts to us."
Send this
to everyone you consider a FRIEND, even if it means sending
it back to
the person who sent it to you. If it comes back to you, then
you'll know
you have a circle of friends.
Just one
more thing...
Please
forgive me if I have ever left a hole in your fence!
~ author
unknown ~
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