My Father's Ripped Vest

As a child, I had a lot of pent-up anger and was not good at communicating constructively. 

Once, as I was getting ready for school, my mother accidentally handed me my father's vest instead of mine.  This was around the time that I was getting to be larger in size than my father, and so as I put the vest, I felt like I was being choked in it!  I realized that it was a small oversight on my mother's part, but somehow the feeling of being choked overwhelmed me and filled me with anger. 

Without thinking much, I took out my anger on my mother.  I was so upset that she had handed me the wrong vest, that I responded by violently ripping it apart from my chest!

Later, my mother shared her own frustration with my father: "See what your son has done."

Instead of scolding or abusing me, my father calmly  responded by asking my mother to stitch up the vest.   He then wore it to work the next day.

When mother told me about my father's response -- much later, when I had recovered from my fit -- I immediately felt a great sense of shame for my violent behavior, just imagining that he was spending the entire day wearing a torn vest.  At the same time, I was filled with great admiration for my father, whose gentle kindness taught me a life lesson I would never forget.

On that day, I took a resolve to never let anger get the better of me.  And whenever I falter, I try to remember my father's vest. 

--- By a Friend  (behappyrightnow)