How To Take Bad Luck
While in a Chinese class, quick disclaimer, I have spent almost half my life trying to learn this language. We were going through some Chinese proverbs and one that particularly stuck with me and up to this day it rings in my head was 塞翁失馬 (Sāi Wēng Shī Mǎ) or Sāi Wēng lost his horse.
Luckily for you I found it here translated from here
Sāi Wēng lived on the border and he raised horses for a living. One day, he lost one of his prized horses. After hearing of the misfortune, his neighbor felt sorry for him and came to comfort him. But Sāi Wēng simply asked, “How could we know it is not a good thing for me?”
After a while, the lost horse returned and with another beautiful horse. The neighbor came over again and congratulated Sāi Wēng on his good fortune. But Sāi Wēng simply asked, “How could we know it is not a bad thing for me?”
One day, his son went out for a ride with the new horse. He was violently thrown from the horse and broke his leg. The neighbors once again expressed their condolences to Sāi Wēng, but Sāi Wēng simply said, “How could we know it is not a good thing for me?” One year later, the Emperor’s army arrived at the village to recruit all able-bodied men to fight in the war. Because of his injury, Sāi Wēng’s son could not go off to war, and was spared from certain death.
Crazy right? But that is it. I always come back to it because of the meanings you could derive from it. Some may just say old man Sāi Wēng just had a single view of life. That is it being meh, regardless what happened to him.
One of the meanings is that a great thing may actually turn out bad and vice versa. There are a lot of things that happen to us that we think are the end of the world but in hind site were the best thing that could have happened to us. For example losing a job , missing a plane or even getting injured. Who knows what lies at the end of these events just knowing that something great may come out of it can make going through them a little easier. Heck, despite how bad the people have been affected by the pandemic it has allowed for some people to thrive, experience and appreciate their lives in a whole new way.
