“My dear son, please control your temper! You don’t know the negative impact of the things you do and speak out while in anger!” Rohail’s father advised his son.

Rohail was an ill-tempered child and he would become angry very quickly. His father planned a way to teach him a lesson about the impact of losing one’s temper. He gave Rohail a packet of nails and a hammer, and told him that whenever you become angry, you should hammer a nail into the fence. Rohail agreed to it.

On this first day, Rohail ended up hammering 29 nails! He was determined to reduce the number of nails hammered and on the second day, he hammered 20 nails! By this, he got a bit of encouragement and he realised that he, being hot-tempered, can control his anger. He worked hard to be cool-minded and did not become irritated and angry on small issues.

On the third day, he hammered 16 nails! Now Rohail could see the gradual improvement in his emotions. Days passed and with every coming day, the number of nails hammered reduced.

Finally, after about one and a half week, a day came when Rohail hammer no nails! Excited with his victory, he ran to his father and told about his success.

His father appreciated him on his improvement, but said, “Your task is not over. From now onwards, whenever you will control your temper and will not be exasperated, you need to pluck out one nail you had hammered” Rohail, though not knowing its purpose, agreed to it.

He continued his task and on the first day of implementing the new method, he plucked out 17 nails. Time ticked off and a day came when all the nails hammered were plucked off. Proud of his triumph, Rohail ran to his father and told him, “Look father! I have plucked all the nails! This means that now I am a completely changed person!”

His father admired his effort, but then replied, “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. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there!”

Rohail went speechless….

So readers, the moral of this story is that we should never lose our temper. The greatest weakness of a person is being bad-tempered. You never know the devastating impact of your reaction while you are in anger, and then regretting your mistake will be of no benefit … as ‘the hole in the fence has been made’!

Published in Dawn, Young World, December 19th, 2020