Good Luck Bad Luck Who Knows
January 2003
By Life Positive
Many years ago, a wise peasant lived in China.
He had a son who was the apple of his eye and a fine white stallion, which everyone admired. One day his horse escaped from his grounds and disappeared. The villagers came to him one by one and said: ‘You are such an unlucky man. It is such bad luck that your horse escaped.’ The peasant responded: ‘Who knows. Maybe it’s bad, maybe it’s good.’ The next day the stallion returned followed by 12 wild horses. The neighbours visited him again and congratulated him for his luck. Again, he just said: ‘Who knows. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad.’
The next day his son attempted to break in one of the wild horses when he fell down and broke his leg. Once more, everyone came with their condolences: ‘It’s terrible.’ Again, he replied: ‘Who knows. Maybe it’s bad, maybe it’s good.’
A few days passed and his poor son was limping around the village with his broken leg, when the emperor’s army entered the village announcing that a war was starting and they required all the young men of the village to join the army. However, they left behind the peasant’s son since he had a broken leg. Everyone was extremely jealous of the peasant. They talked about his sheer good luck, while the old man just muttered: ‘Who knows. Maybe it’s good, maybe it’s bad.’
Source: Chinese Fable
Apply it: Take all events in life with the attitude of ‘Good luck, bad luck, who knows?’