Here we go again, another life-changing lesson.  This has become one of my go-to, daily, mantras.  It’s been given to us by as a Taoist parable.  (Gotta’ love it when awesome lessons are wrapped up into meaningful,  memorable stories.)

The story goes something like this…

There was a Chinese farmer, who had a horse.  One day, his horse ran away.  His neighbor came to offer his regrets for the unfortunate loss.  But the farmer simply said, “Who knows what is good, and what is bad.”

The next day the horse returned to the farmer, bringing with her, several wild horses.  The neighbor rushed over to rejoice at the farmer’s fortune. But the farmer simply said, “Who knows what is good, and what is bad.”

The following day, the farmer’s son was trying to “break in” one of the wild horses, and fell from it, breaking his leg.  The neighbor came over to express his sorrow for the misfortunate injury.  But the farmer simply said, “Who knows what is good, and what is bad.”

The next day the army came to the farm, to draft the son into war, but found him unsuitable and left.  The neighbor witnessed this and thought to himself, “Who knows what is good, and what is bad.”