I love this one. It's so firm and resolute in its message, and what the father chooses to do is so fair. I hope you get something out of this because it's not the same happy ending that people usually expect from short stories like this. I haven't followed strict formatting rules for stories because whenever I use the forum to post it alters any formatting, so if you choose to print it and post it somewhere you'd have tor reformat.
There once was a boy who had a terrible temper that was both explosive and oftentimes hurtful to the people around the boy. He would get into fights, say cruel things to people-- things he often did not mean,-- and he would break things. One day the boy's father took him out back to the fence at the edge of the backyard which ran the entire length of the property. The father brought along a sack of nails and a hammer and he said, "Son, from now on, every time you lose your temper, I want you to come back here and put a nail in the fence. Start at one end and work down to the other. When you get to the end of the fence, pound your way back to where you started. I don't care how many nails you put in the fence, but I want you to put one in for every time you lost your temper in a day."
One week went by and on Sunday just before sunset, the father walked his son back out to the fence. The boy stood staring at how many nails were in the fence from just one week. The boy realized that not only did the nails represent terrible things he had done, gotten in trouble and been punished for, but they were so immense in number that the boy suddenly saw how much time he was spending in anger and malice out of everyday. After a few minutes of looking at the fence in silence, the father said, "Son, you've been nailing this fence for a week, and I think you can see what you've been doing. I still want you to pound in a nail for every time you lose your temper, but as you learn to with-hold your destructive anger I will come back here and help you pull out the nails."
Months later, father and son stood before a fence that was empty of nails, and the boy was very proud of himself for having learned to control his temper. The father, however, had one last thing to help his son see. "Son," spoke the father very softly, "I am so proud of you for learning to control your temper. But I need you to look at the fence one last time." The boy stood looking at the fence his father built with his bare hands. His father had brought the boards home from the store, dug all the post holes, sanded and planed every board, and finished them all. Finally, his father had built this fence that ran all the length of the back yard so that his boy could have a safe place to play as he grew up. The son's eyes grew sad and he began to cry when he saw that the fence was ruined. "So you see." said the father. "You can never truly take back something done in anger and hate. The holes will always be left where you drove in the nails."
I hope this is something along the lines of what you wanted. :happy:
