TEMPER TEMPER

I found the extract below posted on my Facebook wall. (yes they do post some good stuff too) I started to think again as I have been lately. How was I taught right from wrong? How others were taught and children today how are they taught? Why do children brought up with the same family values turn out differently? Some go on to make their way in life and pass the better values to their children whilst others have no consideration for anyone or values at all. Why?

Driving on our congested roads, many show no consideration for others but seem to be on a mission with only thought for themselves. Neighbors show no consideration for those next door when they insist on banging doors, playing loud music or having their TV turned up to top volume. So many other things i don't want to bore you with.

I can’t remember how I was taught all these values of life but I do remember early on learning not to tell lies. If I told a lie and was found out, oh dear, trouble, but if I told the truth, consequences were not so dire and life was more pleasant.  To this day i hate it when people lie to me. 

With my children: saying no when they were very young and as they grew older and had to be punished (where I was just as upset as they were) in some way for misdemeanors I used to ask them “why did I do that” sometimes they would shrug their shoulder and I had to explain why, but as they became older they understood what they had done and the consequences of their actions. I might add that i'm very lucky in that they have grown into good people. 

There is a lot of good in this world of ours as well as bad, life would be so much more pleasant for us all if people would just stop and think before they do something to hurt another mentally or physically. 

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the 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. It won’t matter how many times you say I’m sorry, the wound is still there. Make sure you control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something you will regret later.

- Author Unknown

 — with Lisa Janicki.