NAILS IN THE BARN

Drawing by Joni Kafer, 16, Falls City

I purchased a cross made of horseshoe nails and this was the poem that came with it. I don't know the author, but it a great poem. Monte

NAILS IN THE BARN

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His mother gave him a bag of horseshoe nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the barn. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the barn. 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 barn. Finally, the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his mother about it, and the mother 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 mother that all the horseshoe nails were gone. The mother took her son by the hand and led him to the barn. She said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the barn. The barn 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 person and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as hurtful as a physical one.”