There is a Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse in his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized withthe old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, ’‘Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?" A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills, and the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?"
Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought that was bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?”
Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now, was that good luck or bad luck? Who knows?
Everything that seems, on the surface, to be bad luck may be good luck in disguise. And everything that seems fortunate may not be as it seems.
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