There was once a young boy with a very bad temper, who drove his parents to distraction as they tried to control him. The boy's father got fed up and decided to teach him a lesson, so he gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into their wooden fence. On the first day of this unusual exercise the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence, because he was really mad with everyone. Then over the course of the next few weeks, the little lad began to control his temper and the number of nails going into the fence dropped. The lad was finally beginning to realise that it was easier to hold his temper than to drive nails into the fence.

Then the day came when he didn't lose his temper at all, he was so proud of himself that he rushed to tell his father about his achievement. His father congratulated the little lad on his achievement and told him to remove a nail from the fence every day he managed to control his temper. Several weeks went by, then one day the lad told his father that all the nails had been removed from the fence.

"You have done very well my son," smiled his father, "But look at all the holes you have left in the fence, this fence will never be the same again" He took the little lad by the hand and said, "It is the same in life, when you say things to people in anger, they leave permanent scars just like the nail holes in the fence and no matter how many times you say you are sorry, the wounds will still be there."