Many years ago in ancient china, in a small rural village an old farmer and his family had a beautiful stallion. This horse was their pride and joy. They used it to plow their fields and to pull the cart to take their vegetables to markets. At the end of each day their only son would groom the horse, and tell it how wonderful he was. One day, the gate was left open by a visitor and that night the horse ran away off into the wild hills around their farm. The old farmers family was devastated, weeping and crying. The neighbors from the village all gathered around and said How terrible, what bad luck! The wise old farmer simply smiled and said good, bad, who can say? A few nights later, the stallion returned, bringing with him several fine young mares which he had found running wild in the hills. Once again, all the neighbors gathered around saying How fortunate, how the gods must favour you, what a good thing to happen! The old farmer simply nodded and said Good? Bad? Who can say? A few weeks later, their only son was trying to tame the new horse, and was thrown and broke his leg so badly that he would never be able to walk properly again. The neighbors gathered around saying How terrible! Your only son, now unable to walk properly, what bad luck The old farmer simply nodded and said Good? Bad? Who can say? A few weeks later, the local warlord thundered into their village, and demanded that all the able bodied young men join his army to fight in a war far away. None of them ever returned. The old farmers son was spared because he could no longer walk without a cane. Good? Bad? Who can say? Recently a friend of mine was complaining about what a terrible birthday he just had. He and his wife had taken a day off to spend together at the movies. For weeks the had been looking forward to their first special day together in some time. On their way to town, the alternator in their car broke down, and they spent the entire day being shuffled between various mechanics and auto electricians, some of who were quite rude, and none of whom were able to help them and fix the car on that day. Finally, they had to leave their car and take a train back home. They didn'tt get to see the movie, and they missed the train by a few minutes and had to wait for nearly an hour for another one. From his perspective it was a bad day. Most people would agree with him. If however you apply the Good, Bad Who can say? You soon realise that you just dont know. Perhaps if he had driven home that night, an accident was waiting for him at some distant red light. Or perhaps his wife would have lost her purse at the movies or perhaps..? You may say that this is all purest speculation, and of course it is. This hypothetical accident may never have happened at all. However, what matters is how you perceive an event. If you can truly understand that an event in itself has no inherent qualities of good and bad then you free yourself from being a victim of that event. You give yourself the power to choose how you will react. One of the greatest keys to living a life filled with happiness, is to learn to suspend judgment about whether an event is Good or Bad. Because the truth is we often dont know. That light that changes to red when you are late for work could be the light which slowed you down enough to miss having an accident a few minutes down the road. The train that pulls out just as you race onto the platform could be the one where you would have left your briefcase behind. This happens to us every day. Often something goes wrong and we think how terrible, how unfair, or why did this have to happen? Yet often the truth is that what seems a disaster at the time leads us on to something better than we could have hoped for. So next time things dont work out the way you had planned, or something goes horribly wrong instead of getting upset, just remember the old chinese farmer, and ask yourself Good, Bad, Who can say? May your life be filled with many blessings |
