A Powerful Story

I have been thinking about this post all week. I wanted to share a story about positivity. Honestly, I was struggling with it. I was pretty sure I had stored in my mind some great stories, but I had to give up several times.

Then I found this one, unexpected, in the book I was reading.

I immediately smiled at the pages because I knew this story very well. It belongs to my teenage years. It is somehow linked to my family story, and I guess it is linked to your family’s as well. My dad, Antonio, told me this story for the first time when I was a teenage girl, reminded me of this when I grew up, and sometimes repeats this now that I am an adult (..or at least that’s what my birth certificate says!).

Here we go..

The story is about a Chinese farmer whose horse ran off. When his neighbour came to console him the farmer said, “Who knows what’s good or bad?”.

When his horse returned the next day with a herd of horses following her, the foolish neighbour came to congratulate him on his good fortune.

“Who knows what’s good or bad?” said the farmer.

Then the farmer’s son broke his leg trying to ride one of the horses, the foolish neighbour came to console him again.

“Who knows what’s good or bad?” said the farmer.

When the army passed through, conscripting men for war, they passed over the farmer’s son because of his broken leg.

When the foolish man came to congratulate the farmer that his son would be spared, again the farmer said, “Who knows what’s good or bad?”.

The story in reality is an open story because it can go on and on until we hopefully realise that there is no good or bad in the events of our lives. It is a circle of events where in some circumstances we may seem fortunate to our “neighbours”, whereas in some others we would appear less fortunate and inclined to complain about our misery.

My dad tells me this story every time I feel down or need encouragement (not the whole story though!).

I have always found this story powerful, it has helped me a lot throughout difficult times in my life. I hope you liked it too and got some positivity out of it. A good reminder that hard and difficult times won’t last long and soon we will consider ourselves fortunate again.