Just Wait And See

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” -Cormac McCarthy

There’s a great Chinese parable that illustrates this concept:

There once was a man who had a son he loved dearly. He lived on a farm and had a fine white horse that everyone admired. One day his fence broke and the horse escaped from the grounds. His neighbor came by and remarked and what horrible luck he had. The man replied with a simple “Who knows, let’s wait and see.” The next day the horse suddenly returned along with 12 wild horses. The neighbors visited him again and congratulated him on his luck. Again, he just said: “Who knows, let’s wait and see.”

The next day his son tried to train one of the wild horses and was bucked off the horse, breaking his leg. Once more everyone came with their condolences: “It’s terrible.” Again, he replied: “Who knows, let’s wait and see.” A few days later, as his son limped through the town, the general of the army entered the village announcing that a war was starting and all able young men had to join the cause. The farmer’s son was exempt due to his leg. Everyone was awestruck by the sheer luck of the farmer while all the man said was “Who knows, let’s wait and see.”