Who Knows?

Terrible back pain. The loss of a job. Financial troubles. The betrayal of a friend. These are all bad things, right?

We all have idealistic expectations as to how our lives should be. When we encounter outcomes that differ from what we want, it is very easy to judge these experiences as BAD.

And the greater the deviation from what we want, the worse the situation becomes in our mind. Think about this and you will see that this way of judging permeates every facet of our lives.

But is bad always bad?

An old man lived in a valley with his son, a handsome and dutiful youth. They lived a peaceful life despite a lack of material possessions. They were very happy. So much so, that neighbors began to get envious.

One day, the old man used all his savings to buy a young wild stallion. It was a beautiful horse that he planned to use for breeding. The very same day he bought it, the horse jumped the fence and ran off. The neighbors came over to sympathize. “How terrible!” they said.

“Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?” said the old man.

Ten days later the stallion returned. It came with a whole herd of wild horses, and the old man was able to lure them into the corral and fixed it so escape was no longer possible. The neighbors again gathered around “What good fortune!” they said.

“Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?” said the old man.

His son started to train the horse. One of them threw him to the ground and stomped on his leg. It healed crookedly and left the son with a permanent limp and endless pain. “Such misfortune,“ said the neighbors.

“Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?” said the old man.

The next summer, the King declared war and all the young men from the village were forced into the army. Except the old man’s son was spared because of his injured leg. “Truly, you are a lucky man,” exclaimed the neighbors who cried over the loss of their own Sons.

“Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?” said the old man.

I found this Sufi tale in the book Are You Ready to Succeed? written by Srikumar S. Rao. It’s a really good book!

Can you think of any experiences that you originally thought as a bad thing which turned out to be good? Maybe we should stop trying to judge which parts of our lives are good and which parts are bad.

Terrible back pain. The loss of a job. Financial troubles. The betrayal of a friend.

Good thing? Bad thing? Who knows?