A Blemish of the Tongue:
The opposite is also true. If one misuses his tongue, he causes himself tremendous harm. This is illustrated in the following story:
A group of bochurim from a certain yeshiva were going home for Shabbos, and they hired their regular taxi driver to take them. They were in a very good mood during the drive, and they were joking and kidding around with each other. The driver, on the other hand, remained silent. He didn’t utter a word or even smile throughout the entire trip. The bochur tried to converse with him, but he wouldn’t respond. Finally, he told them, “Leave me alone. You can keep talking amongst yourselves but don’t get me involved in your conversation.”
When they asked him why he didn’t want to talk, he said, “One of my children just died and I am too sad to converse with anyone.”
One of the bochurim, in an inane attempt to be funny, replied, “I also have gone through hard times in my life, but that doesn’t stop me from joking around with my friends.”
A short while later, the bochur got married. He had a son, but the child suddenly died a year after its birth. The same thing happened a second and even a third time. The young man was heartbroken. He couldn’t understand why Hashem would do this to him. One day, one of his friends who had been in the taxi with him reminded him of the insensitive remark he had made to the taxi driver. He suggested that perhaps it was because of the pain he may have caused the driver that he was experiencing this suffering.
He began searching for the driver and, after much effort, he succeeded in finding him. He told him everything that had happened to him and asked for forgiveness. The driver forgave him, and the young man ultimately had several healthy children.
