Are you familiar with the story of the boy, and the nails in the fence? Someone once told it to me.
A young boy was known for having a foul temper, and often lashed out at people around him. One day, his father took him aside, and gave him a bucket of nails and a hammer. "Every time you lose your temper with someone, hammer a nail into the fence."
And so that's what the boy did.
Before long, the fence was riddled with nails. The boy soon began to run out of room, and he realized how often he lost his temper. So he started controlling his temper. He then discovered it was easier to hold his temper instead of hammering nails into the fence.
Then came a day where he didn't lose his temper at all. His father then suggested for every time he controlled his temper, he could remove a nail.
When the last nail was finally pried from the fence, the boy called his father over. The man looked at his son, and said to him, "Do you see? Every time you say something in anger, it leaves a nail, a scar in their hearts. Even if you remove the nails, the hole is there forever, and can never be erased. The fence will never be the same again."
This is about the time I became that little boy with the bucket of nails, and a hammer.