Take 5: 16 October 2017 by Ms Geetha

Good morning Mdm Tan, Mr Lee, Mr Chung, fellow colleagues and all Gessians. On 4 October, Mrs Tay Yen Ping started our special October Take 5 and High 5 ‘Respect’ story series with her story about the angry father and the surgeon. On 6 October, Miss Beh Jing Ying shared her story about Grandfather and his wooden bowl. Last Monday, Mr Chong Zi Yi shared his story about a young man and his job interview. Today, I will continue our story series by sharing with you my ‘Respect’ story.

There once was a little boy who had a very bad temper. He would lose his temper over the smallest thing and each day, he would fly into a rage and shout at everyone who annoyed him or got in his way.

One day, his father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he would have to hammer a nail into the fence in their backyard. By the end of the first day, the boy had already driven 37 nails into the fence!

Over the next few days and weeks, he gradually got bored of driving nails into the fence and so he tried to learn to control his anger. As he began to manage his temper better, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled.

Surprisingly, he discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive nails into the fence. Finally, after several months, a day came when the boy didn’t lose his temper at all throughout the day. He proudly told his father about it, expecting his father to praise and reward him.

Instead, his 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 with each passing day, the boy learnt to hold his temper better. He was now hardly angry and hardly lost his temper. After many, many months, the young boy was finally able to announce to his father that all the nails in the fence were finally removed.

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 again. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like these holes.”

Although this is a really short story but I find this to be a really impactful story. The moral of my ‘Respect’ story is simple. You can put a knife in a man and then say ‘Sorry’ and draw it out. But it won’t matter how many times you say “I’m sorry” because the wound is still there. Make sure you learn to control your temper the next time you are tempted to say something you will regret later. By choosing kind words, we are showing respect to the people around us and showing respect to ourselves.

Before I end my Take 5, here are 2 questions I would like you to note down in your student handbook so you can reflect on them over the next few days. Question 1: Can you recall an incident recently when you regretted your action? Question 2: How can you prevent such an incident from happening again?

Stay tuned for Friday’s story and have a fantastic week ahead. Thank you.