提 要

「良言一句三冬暖，惡語傷人六月寒」。「六才子書」之一的《西廂記》第三本第二折有這麼一句：「別人行甜言蜜語三冬暖，我跟前惡語傷人六月寒。」俗語說：「一句話能把人說跳腳，一句話也能把人說笑。」隨口一句惡言可以毀掉人的信心；一句好話也可以鼓勵人從失落中走出。謹慎說好話，是好習慣。

In a small village, a little boy lived with his father and mother. He was the only son.The parents of the little boy were very depressed due to his bad temper. The boy used to get angry very soon and taunt others with his words. His bad temper made him use words that hurt others. He scolded kids, neighbours and even his friends due to anger. His friends and neighbours avoided him, and his parents were really worried about him.

His mother and father advised him many times to control his anger and develop kindness. Unfortunately, all their attempts failed. Finally, the boy’s father came up with an idea.

One day, his father gave him a huge bag of nails. He asked his son to hammer one nail to the fence every time he became angry and lost his temper. The little boy found it amusing and accepted the task.

Every time he lost his temper, he ran to the fence and hammered a nail. His anger drove him to hammer nails on the fence 30 times on the first day! After the next few days, the number of nails hammered on the fence was reduced to half. The little boy found it very difficult to hammer the nails and decided to control his temper.

Gradually, the number of nails hammered to the fence was reduced and the day arrived when no nail was hammered! The boy did not lose his temper at all that day. For the next several days, he did not lose his temper and did not hammer any nail.

Now, his father told him to remove the nails each time the boy controlled his anger. Several days passed and the boy was able to pull out most of the nails from the fence. However, there remained a few nails that he could not pull out.

The boy told his father about it. The father appreciated him and asked him pointing to a hole, “What do you see there?”

The boy replied, “a hole in the fence!”

He told the boy, “The nails were your bad temper and they were hammered on people. You can remove the nails but the holes in the fence will remain. The fence will never look the same. It has scars all over. Some nails cannot even be pulled out. You can stab a man with a knife, and say sorry later, but the wound will remain there forever. Your bad temper and angry words were like that! Words are more painful than physical abuse! Use words for good purposes. Use them to grow relationships. Use them to show the love and kindness in your heart!”

Unkind words cause lasting damage, Let our words be kind and sweet.

解 說

在一個小村莊裡，有個小男孩和他的父母同住。他是家中的獨子。這小男孩的脾氣惡劣，讓父母感到沮喪。男孩很快地發怒、嘲弄別人。他的壞脾氣會讓他用言詞傷人。他憤怒地罵其他孩子，鄰居甚至自己的朋友。他的朋友、鄰居都躲著他，他的父母很擔心他。

爸爸媽媽多次建議他控制自己的憤怒、發揮良善態度。不幸的是，他們的嘗試失敗了。最後，男孩的父親想出了一個辦法。

有一天，壞脾氣男孩的父親給他一大袋釘子。要求兒子每一次失控發怒時，就釘一支釘子在圍籬上。小男孩覺得挺有趣，願意這麼做。

每次男孩發脾氣，他就跑到圍欄敲下一根釘子。他的易怒讓他在第一天就把圍籬釘了三十根釘子！之後，在接下來的幾天，釘在圍籬上的釘子減少了一半。這壞脾氣男孩發現釘釘子有難度，決定控制自己的脾氣。

漸漸地，釘在圍籬上的釘子減少，終於到了沒有釘子被錘在圍籬上的一天！當天，那男孩沒有發脾氣。在接下來的幾天裡，他都沒有失控，所以圍籬上再沒有釘任何新的釘子。

現在，男孩的父親告訴他，每次能控制自己不發怒時，都可以拔掉釘子。幾天過去了，男孩能夠控制脾氣，也從圍欄中拔出大部分的釘子。然而，仍然有幾個釘子拔不出來。

男孩如實告訴父親。父親讚賞他，並指著一個洞問他：「你在那兒看到什麼？」

男孩回答：「圍籬上有洞！」

他告訴男孩：「釘子是你的暴躁脾氣，人們被你的『釘子』錘打。你可以拔掉釘子，但圍籬上被釘過的孔仍然存在。圍欄也永遠不會看起來一樣，它的傷痕累累，某些釘子甚至永遠拔不掉；你可以用刀刺一個男人，過一會兒說抱歉，但傷痛會永遠留在那裡。你亂發脾氣的後果就是這樣，言詞的羞辱比身體的虐待更讓人痛苦！要說好話，用好話增長人際關係，用好話表現你心中的愛與仁慈！」

惡語傷人會造成持久的損害，讓我們使自己的話語良善甜美。