When we lived in Los Angeles we would encounter many people with anger issues and short tempers. Road rage was a serious problem on the busy freeways, and crowded streets. People are stressed out with work, family, poverty, health issues and anything else in between. In many ways life is not as simple as it was when our parents were growing up. There were many things they didn't need to worry about. So I can understand people being on the edge. However, being angry and lashing out doesn't make things any better, actually it makes things worse. I read a story that went something like this................
There once was a boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that everytime he lost his temper, he had to 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. Wether you physically or verbally hurt someone, the wound is the same .It won't matter how many times you say I am sorry, the wound will still be there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one. I hope we can all remember this story when we are ready to lash out at someone.
Let's be careful not to leave a "hole" in the people's fences.
Have a blessed week.
