A Blessing in Disguise
I’m an old man lived in a remote town near the Chinese border with my son in the Warring States Times. Initially, we farmed the land while living a pretty peaceful life.
One night, there was a terrible storm while the winds whistling and the leaves rustling. An old elm crashed into the barn door, frightening a horse to run out toward the hills. My son and I looked all over for the horse. We walked throughout the dark fields, holding torches, called to the horse and scattered sweet hay. However, our efforts fell far from our expectations.
With a positive attitude, the entire time I kept saying, “Perhaps losing our horse isn’t such a bad thing.” My son kept quiet. He didn’t understand me.
We asked everyone about the missing horse. The townspeople answered politely, saying that they hadn’t seen the horse, but would look out for me. They all shew compassion to my son and me. “It must be terrible to lose such a beautiful animal,” they said. But I insisted that losing the horse might not be a bad thing. The townspeople grew quiet.They didn’t understand me.
As a matter of fact, it turned out to not be such a bad thing. The horse returned the next day, bringing with it a beautiful female horse. The townspeople congratulated me on my good luck. Nevertheless, I responded, “Perhaps my horse returning is not such a good thing after all.” The townspeople grew quiet. They didn’t understand me.
As time elapsed, my son was fond of the new horse. He rode it every day. When they raced, they flowed like the wind over the grass. Unfortunately, one day, as my son was riding the horse, a large bird suddenly flew in front of them. The terrified horse stood up on two legs, pawing the air. My son reached for his horse’s mane but grabbed only air. He flew off the horse’s back.
He slammed into the hard ground. His leg broke. I ran to my son and carried him back to the house.
The townspeople expressed their sympathy to me. They were all very sorry in that my son would never be able to walk without pain again.
Yet unlike the townspeople, I said, “Maybe this is not such a bad thing after all.” The townspeople grew quiet. They didn’t understand me again.
A few months later, the Emperor passed through the town with his soldiers. There was a war raging near the border. All the able bodied young men had to join the army. What the Emperor didn’t say was that most of the young men would die in the fight.
However, because my son was handicapped, he could not fight. He didn’t have to join the army. Instead, he stayed home. He helped tend crops on the family farm.
“See?” I said to the townspeople. “It all worked out in the end.”
My horse running away brought back the second horse. And that second horse stopped my son from going off to his death. So, in the end, it was good and lucky that these things happened.” The townspeople cheered my wisdom. At last, they understood me.
In a nutshell, this story reflects an optimistic attitude towards living. As the proverb goes, every cloud has a silver lining. Even the worst things can have positive effects. Whatever impediment we come across, we’d better have the courage to overcome it. We might as well keep in mind that any barrier can’t shatter our hopes of living a positive life as long as we tackle it with great enough belief and persistence.