A fence without a hole....

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 backof the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the nextfew 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 todrive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his fatherabout it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day thathe 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 thehand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at theholes 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 verbalwound is as bad as a physical one. Friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend a ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to us."

Please forgive me if I have ever left a hole.