There was once 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 then 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. Please forgive me if

I have ever left a hole in your fence.

Frank Webb

Snoqualmie