Moral Story

gokulkr · 10-09-2007, 06:22 AM

MORAL STORY

Nails in the Fence

Once, there lived a little boy who had a terrible temper. Even the slightest event that did not go his way made him throw a tantrum. Soon, his friends at school stopped talking to him, his teachers sent him home every night with notes about his bad attitude; Even his sisters and brothers refused to speak to him.

One day, the little boy's father took him out to the backyard and gave him a box of nails and a hammer. He told the little boy that rather than throwing a tantrum, every day he should come home and drive a nail for each time that he got angry that day. The little boy did not quite understand why his father wanted him to do this, but remembering how fun it is to play with hammers and nails, he told his father that he would give it a try.

The first day, the little boy came home and drove 37 nails into the fence. It took him lot longer than he thought it would and made him feel very tired.

The next day the number of nails were slightly fewer than the first; the third he drove less nails than the second. Soon, the number of nails became hardly any at all, because the little boy realized that it was a lot easier to just not be angry than to have to come home to drive all those nails into the fence.

One day, he found that he didn't need to drive any nails at all, because he hadn't been angry all day. Overjoyed, the little boy raced to his father to tell him the good news.

"That's fine, Son," his father said, "But your job isn't over, yet. You are now going to have to start pulling those nails out of the fence. Take your time, though, and let me know when you are done." Since he was really hoping that his father would be proud of him, the little boy took only a few days to remove the nails from the fence. Soon, he raced back to his father, again, and told him that the job was done.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, My Son, but just look at all those holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. This is what happened every time you got angry. It left a scar a scar just like the holes in this fence. It doesn't matter whether you hit someone or yell at someone. Because physically or verbally, anger leaves a wound that can never really heal.

All good people, especially fellow devotees of God, are very rare jewels. They are genuine, make you smile and encourage you to succeed in your goals. They lend an ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open their hearts to you.

The next time that you meet with one, let he/she know that you are glad to be their bandhu (godbrother or godsister). And share this story with them, and seek their forgiveness for any "nails that you may have driven into their fence".