Good Luck? Bad Luck?

by Teng Sam An
Extract from: "Born to Win" by Boris Vene and Nicola Grubisa

In a small village, somewhere in China, there was an old man who had everything – a loving son, all the material wealth he needed as well as a horse worth a fortune that was the envy of all his neighbors. One day, his horse jumped over the fence and got lost in the woods. Gone in an instant was his most valuable possessions. Hearing about the accident and feeling sorry for the old man, the people in his village said, “You lost your horse, what a terrible tragedy for you. Oh, what a bad luck…” As they each offered their condolences, his reply was always the same: “Bad luck, good luck … how do you know it is a tragedy?”

A few days later, the hungry horse returned to the old man, knowing there was food and water at the old man’s barn. The horse brought twelve other wild and beautiful horses with him. When the old man’s neighbors heard about his great fortune, they all thought he was extremely lucky and told him so. The wise old man simply replied: “Bad luck, good luck… how do you know it is good luck?”

The next day, his son saddled and tried one of the new horses. The horse threw him from the saddle and the fall injured him badly. Doctors said the boy was incurably lame. Farmers from the village came to offer their condolences to the old man, saying: “Oh, your only son, disabled forever, what a tragedy, what a bad luck…” The old man replied, “How do you know it is bad luck or a tragedy?”

Month passed into years and war broke out. They collected men and boys from every city to join the army and took soldiers from every village, but the crippled boy, unable to fight, remained with the old man. The following week, the news came that a great battle killed all the soldiers from their village.

Therefore, You never know what is bad luck or good luck. Never rely on luck to get you closer to your goals.