My mother's story

   If I counted all the times I hurt somebody I love it would be a long list. And I am not a cruel person, I would consider myself one of the ordinary people. Why do we hurt those who love us? Well, simply because we know they will forgive us. Love is all about forgiveness, right? Since a parent's love is most of the times the strongest and selfless we tend to hurt them most.

  During one of the conversations with my mother we touched the topic of love and forgiveness. She told me this story:
"There once lived a man who had a rebellious son. That boy would say bad things to his father and when the son grew older he would even heat his father. The father loved him and told his son:
- Do you see this table? Every time you are mean to me I will hammer a nail into this table.
 The son kept hurting his father and there were a lot of nails hammered to the table. One day there was no more place for nails on that poor table.
  By that time the son got older and did realize how cruel he was to his own father. He began appreciating his dad. The father then said:
-Each time you act nice towards me I will take out a nail.
Years past and there were no more nails in that table. Then his father said:
- Look, there are no more nails in the table... but the holes are left.