100 Moral Stories 16
TRUE WEALTH
One day a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the purpose of
showing his son how the poor people live so he could be thankful for his wealth.
They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.
On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?” “It was great, Dad.”
“Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Oh yeah” said the son. “So what did you
learn from the trip?” asked the father.
The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four.
We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they
have a creek that has no end.” “We have imported lanterns in our
garden and they have the stars at night.” “Our patio reaches to the
front yard and they have the whole horizon.” “We have a small
piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our
sight.” “We have servants who serve us, but they serve others.”
“We buy our food, but they grow theirs.” “We have walls around
our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them.”
With this the boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks dad for showing me how
poor we are.”
A HOLE IN THE FENCE
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 back of 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 day 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.
A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.
Friends and loved ones are a very rare jewel, indeed.
They make you smile and encourage you to succeed.
They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they
always want to open their hearts to us. Water your
relationships with kindness… and they will grow. So be
careful little lips what you say…! And you won't chase
friendships away.
