07 Sep Life’s Unpredictable Roads
Ella’s scowl deepened as she peered ahead at the traffic jam that threatened to make us late to school.
“What bad luck,” she said, noticing that we were stuck in the slowest-moving lane.
“Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows,” I replied.
I offered a smile, secretly hoping Ella would get the reference to a story we used to read together called “A Farmer’s Luck”. It goes something like this:
Once there was a farmer who had worked tirelessly on his farm every day for many years, toiling the fields with the help of his trusted horse.
One day, his horse ran away.
When his neighbors heard the news about the horse’s escape, they came to visit him.
“Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.
“Maybe,” the farmer replied.
The next morning the horse came back, bringing with it two new wild horse friends.
The neighbors, seeing the new additions, exclaimed, “Such good luck!”
“Maybe,” replied the farmer.
The next day, the farmer’s son attempted to ride one of the new untamed horses and was thrown off and broke his leg.
The neighbors came back, shaking their heads at his misfortune.
“Such bad luck,” they said.
“Maybe,” answered the farmer.
The next day, as the farmer’s son rested in bed, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army to fight in a war. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by.
“Such good luck!” cried the neighbors.
“Maybe,” replied the farmer.
As Ella and I sat in traffic, watching the clock tick past the school’s start time, I thought about how little we know about whether situations will ultimately prove to be good or bad.
Like the farmer’s neighbors, we are quick to label events as fortunate or unfortunate. Yet, as the farmer realized, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story.
It’s hard to realize we can’t know the consequences of things that disappoint us in the moment, like being late to school due to a traffic jam. Harder still is realizing we don’t know the consequences when we are on the fortunate side of fortune.
Letting there be room for not knowing reminds us that life’s journey is filled with unknown twists and turns and opportunities.