There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every timehe lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back ofthe 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. You can
put a knife in a man and draw it out. But it won't matter how
many times you say I'm sorry, the wound will still be there. A
verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
Remember that friends are very rare jewels, indeed. They
make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an
ear, they share words of praise and they always want to open
their hearts to us.'