Once upon a time, there was a Chinese farmer who lost a horse when it ran away. All the neighbors that evening said “That’s too bad.”
He said, “we’ll see.”
A few days later, the horse came back and brought seven wild horses with it. That evening, all the neighbors said “That’s great.”
The farmer said, “we’ll see.”
A few days later, his son was attempting to tame one of these horses. He was thrown and broke his leg. All the neighbors said “That’s too bad.”
He said, “we’ll see.”
A few days later, the conscription officers came around to draft young men for the army. They rejected his son because his leg was broken. And the neighbors said “Isn’t that wonderful?”
He said, “we’ll see.”
“The whole process of nature is an integrated process of immense complexity and it is really impossible to tell whether anything that happens in it is good or bad. You never know what will be the consequences of a misfortune, or you’ll never know what will be the consequences of good fortune.” ~ Alan Watts