Scoutmaster's Minute: The Nails in the Barn Door

The story is told of a young boy with a terrible temper. He lived on a farm and when mad, would throw rocks at the farm animals and do other terrible things. 'Strapping' him didn't reduce the boy's temper and his father decided that perhaps another lesson was in order.

He gave the boy a hammer and a bucket of nails and told him, "Whenever you lose your temper, I want you to drive a nail into the barn door." The first few days were somewhat noisy around the farm as the nails were being pounded in on a regular basis. As the dayspassed, however, the boy found it was easier to control his temper than to drive nails into the heavy door. Fewer and fewer nails were being driven, and the boy's father began to smile.

The day finally came when the boy said to his father, "I have not driven one nail in the door today." "Good," said the father. Each day that you can hold your temper and not get mad, I want you to remove one of the nails you've already driven. "Now, each day, you could hear the squeak of nails being withdrawn from the door. The process was reversed and as the days passed, more and more nails disappeared from the barn door and went back into the bucket. Eventually, the day came when the boy came to the father and said, "I have learned to control my temper so well that there are no more nails in the barn door, nor will I ever have to drive a nail there again." He added, "But father, the door is full of holes and it looks terrible."

The father smiled and told his son, "There is the lesson to be learned. Once you said something bad, did something bad, behaved in such a way that you felt the need to drive that nail, the deed was done. Even when you removed the nail, the scar was left. That's how it is with life. We say things, do things, and behave toward others in a way that wounds them. No matter how hard we try; no matter what we do, we have left a scar on that person forever. As you go through life, son, remember the lesson of the nails in the barn door."

--as told by Bill Babbage, NEIII-188

There is a wonderful quotation that applies to Bill's story. “Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.” Like the 'nails' story itself, these words have been attributed to several authors as well as ‘anonymous’ and ‘unknown.’ The author matters little; the message is what counts. It belongs on barn doors everywhere…from the farm to the schoolhouse, to the town hall, to the state house, to the doors of Congress, and, most assuredly, on the doors of every Scouter who aspires to be "important in the life of a boy."

--WB Scribbler