A man came out of his home to admire his new truck. To his puzzlement, his three-year-old son was happily hammering dents into the shiny paint.

The man ran to his son, knocked him away, hammered the little boy's hands into a pulp as punishment. When the father calmed down, he rushed his son to the hospital.

Although the doctor tried desperately to save the crushed bones, he finally had to amputate the fingers from both the boy's hands. When the boy woke up from the surgery & saw his bandaged stubs, he innocently said, "Daddy, I'm sorry about your truck." Then he asked, "but when are my fingers going to grow back?"

The father went home and committed suicide.

Think about the story the next time you see someone spill milk at a dinner table or hear a baby crying. Think first before you lose your patience with someone u love. Trucks can be repaired. Broken bones & hurt feelings often can't. Too often we fail to recognize the difference between the person and the performance. People make mistakes. We are allowed to make mistakes. But the actions we take while in a rage will haunt us forever.

Pause and ponder. Think before you act. Be patient. Understand and love.

Reviews:
***** [Oct 22, 2007] by Carolyn
I don't know if this story is true, but what a wonderful parable. So much can be learned from this if one stops to think and pray about how we allow Satan to push us to this brink.

**** [Feb 26, 2007] by Neha
So true.. we do so many awful things when we are angry and regret it later on.. anger is the worst state of mind..

***** [Oct 01, 2005] by Hero
We all do the what the father did. We live as if we are going to be 2000 some day. O people who think this is a bad idea. Think again. Haven't we all hurt people ,even those we love thinking "Yea that might teach u a lesson". The mighty fools that we are. Life is short and a priceless gift! Stop the hurting. "There are people crying , if u care enough for the living..."

***** [May 30, 2004] by Karen
I have read the story and read the reviews. My big question is why so many people are offended by this? It is telling us to think before we act.. period. Maybe the content is a bit harsh or unbelievable but it still rings true. When I find something offensive, I first have to look inside myself and try not to point fingers at others or in this case, the author.

* [Nov 25, 2003] by Prince
I admire your stories but this has gone OUT OF HAND! What was the point of this stupidity???

***** [Jul 24, 2003] by Sharice
This is a great story and for the people who think this is sick I guess you think Jesus dieing on the cross for your sins is sick to right no wrong get the mote out of your own eye before you try to judge other's.

***** [Sep 17, 2002] by Michelle
I think this story is touching.

***** [Jul 04, 2002] by Randy Sopicki
The story is right on target. Child abuse is a problem. The beating for "spilling the milk" or other minor infraction is all too common. This makes you stop and reflect.

***** [May 22, 2002] by sue
I thought this story was written for a good lesson to be learned.I have seen to much child abuse.This stories message wasn"t for the 4 people who responded to this before me,{obviously} all these spirtual stories are intended to touch certain people to certain stories and if someone who has no paitents when a child does something like this needs to see what the outcome CAN be,this story could actually inspirer someone to pause and ponder first before hurting a child,unknown author i admire you

* [May 13, 2002] by John
That is disqusting. Whoever wrote this story should commit suicide. Well, not really, but this is a horrible story.

* [Dec 19, 2001] by Sara
This story is absolutely sick and not inspiring in the least. And in the real world there is no way the father would be there to see his son wake up. He would have been arrested.

* [Dec 17, 2001] by Rose
This is the sickest thing I've ever read. It's supposed to be "inspiring" or whatever like the rest of this site?? OMG.... sick sick sick.

* [Dec 15, 2001] by Dagny Roberts
I have no idea where you got this drivel, but it was absolutely awful. Any parent that would do that would not care enough to kill himself over this.