When I went to see Myung-Jin this week, I told her about my car accident. She told me that loss often reverses itself. To illustrate her point, she told me an old Chinese story that went a little bit like this:
One day, a young boy who lived in the countryside went outside his house and saw that a beautiful horse had wandered into his backyard. This was fortune. The boy was so pleased at this gift, and went to ride the horse. He broke his leg. His parents though 'this is misfortune.' But then the country went to war and their son with the broken leg was the only who didn't have to fight and die. They thought 'this is fortune.' Then the horse ran away, and the family thought 'this is misfortune.' The horse, in the meantime, had trotted through the country gathering a pack of horses, and returned to the family with his new friends in tow. This is fortune. Etcetera etcetera. On and on.