A father gave his son a bag full of nails and a hammer and said, “Every time you get angry, drive a nail into the wall across from you.” On the first day, the boy was forced to drive 37 nails into the wall. In the following days and weeks, as the boy learned to control his temper and became less angry, the number of nails he drove into the wall gradually decreased. The boy realized that it was easier to control his anger than to pound nails into the wall.
Eventually, the day came when the boy no longer had the habit of getting angry and he reminded his father of the matter. His father suggested that now, for each day he doesn’t get angry, he should remove one of the nails he had pounded into the wall over the past period.
Days passed until finally, one day, the young boy went to his father and said he had removed all the nails from the wall. The father took his son’s hand and led him to the other side of the wall where the nails had been pounded and then removed. The father turned to his son and said, “Your hand may not hurt anymore, you’ve done a good job, but look at the holes you’ve created in the wall!! This wall will never be the same as it was before. Son, when you say something in anger, it’s like driving a nail into the heart of the person opposite you. You can stab someone with a knife and then take it out, but no matter how many times you apologize to the person in front of you, the knife wound will still remain. A physical wound is just as bad as an emotional one. Friends are truly precious jewels; they can make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They entrust their hearts to you and expect mutual respect, and they’re always willing to open their hearts to us.”
