Be Grateful In Every Situation

There is a Chinese story of an old farmer who had an old horse for tilling his fields. One day the horse escaped into the hills, and when the farmer's neighbours sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, “Bad luck, good luck, who knows?” And when a week later the horse returned with a herd of wild horses from the hills, and his neighbours congratulated him on his good luck, he replied, “Good luck, bad luck, who knows?'

Then, when the farmer's son attempted to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this was a very 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 there. 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? “Whatever happens to us may be for our own good; though it may not seem so at the time.”