Читать книгу Love Your Enemies - Gerd Steeger - Страница 7

What else could you expect, from a day like this, I thought? Would it be better to sleep through the day and wait for another, better day, or should one look at this supposedly bad news without regard to its value, as one knows from the story about the old man and the horse that the Chinese philosopher Lao-Tze liked to tell.

You don't know that story, dear reader? Then I do not want to withhold the story from you:

An old, very poor man lived in a village, yet even kings were jealous of him as he owned a beautiful white horse. Kings offered fantastic sums for the horse, but the man then said: "For me this horse is not a horse, but a man, and how could one sell a man, a friend? The man was poor, but he never sold his horse. One morning, his horse was not in the stable. The whole village gathered and the people said, "You, stupid old man! We always knew that one day the horse would be stolen. It would have been better to sell it. What a misfortune! The old man said: "Don't go so far as to say that. Just say: The horse is not in the stable. That much is a fact: Everything else is opinion. Whether it is a misfortune or a blessing, I do not know, because this is only a fragment. Who knows what will follow? People laughed at the old man. They had always known that he was a little crazy.

But one evening, fifteen days later, the horse suddenly returned. It had not been stolen, but had broken out into the wilderness. And not only that, it also brought a dozen wild horses with it. Again, the people gathered and they said: Old man, you were right. It wasn't misfortune, it actually proved to be a blessing. The old man replied: "Again you are going too far. Just say: The horse is back. Who knows whether this is a blessing or not? It is only a fragment. If you read only one word in one sentence, how can you judge the whole book? This time people didn't know what else to say, but inside they knew that the old man was wrong. Twelve magnificent horses had arrived.

The old man’s only one son, began to train the wild horses. A week later he fell off the horse and broke both his legs. Again, the people gathered, and made their judgment. They said: “Again, you got it wrong! It was an accident. Your only son can't use his legs anymore, and he was the only one to support you, in your old age. Now you are poorer than ever.” The old man replied: “You are obsessed with making judgments. Don't go so far. Just say that my son has broken his legs. No one knows whether this is a misfortune or a blessing. Life comes in fragments, and that's all you get to see.”

It turned out that a few weeks later, the country started a war. All the young men from the village were forcibly drafted into the military. Only the old man’s son was left behind as he was crippled. The whole village was filled with lamentations and cries of pain, because this war could not be won and it was known that most of the young men would not return home. They came to the old man and said: "You were right, old man - it proved to be a blessing. Your son may be crippled, but he is still with you. Our sons are gone forever. The old man answered again: "You do not stop judging. Nobody knows! Say only this: That your sons were drafted into the army and that my son was not drafted. But only God knows whether this is a blessing or a misfortune.”