What is Good and What is Bad?
(A classic story, not my article)
How often we quickly judge and label situations and people? Before we judge let us consider this story.
A long time ago, there was an old man and his son. They had a small farm and only one horse to pull their plow.
One day, the son left the gate open too long and the horse ran away. The next day, the neighbors came by and said, “It’s too bad that your horse ran away!” The farmer replied, “I don’t know if it’s good or if it’s bad, but I know my horse is gone.”
The next day, the horse came back with four other wild horses. They came into the corral and the son closed the gate. Now, they had five horses. The neighbors stopped by and said, “It’s so great, you now have five horses!” The farmer replied, “I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I have five horses.”
One day, the old man’s son was trying to tame one of the horses when it reared up and struck on his leg, and he was left partially disabled. The neighbors came by and said “Oh, that’s too bad; your son is crippled!” The father said, “I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but my son is injured.”
The next day, soldiers came into town to take all of the able-bodied men off to war.
You can imagine what the neighbors would have said and the farmer's reply to them.
What is good? What is bad?
Not wise to label events and people! They keep changing.
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