There was an old widowed farmer who had a son and a dazzling horse. His neighbors would come over and they’d praise him for having such a beautiful, capable horse. One day the farmer decided that he would take that horse to be shown next to other horses. The farmer’s horse won the best prize. The neighbors came over and shared their congratulations, “you have the best horse around, you are so lucky!” the farmer responded “who knows what is good or what is bad?” The neighbors looked at him in confusion and went home.
Word got out about this horse being a prized horse and one night some bandits came and stole the horse. The next morning the neighbors came over to commiserate the farmers loss “we are so sorry you lost your prized horse, how awful this is!” they exclaimed. The farmer looked at them and responded “who knows what is good or what is bad?” Again, the neighbors looked at each other, puzzled.
A week went by and that prized horse broke out of its hidden pen and made its way back to the farmers property. On its way back home, the horse found friends, a pack of wild horses! When the farmer woke he found a great number of beautiful horses waiting for him. The neighbors came over in excitement, “congratulations on the return of your prized horse and all of your new horses, you’re a very lucky man!” He looked at them and responded “who knows what is good or what is bad?” By now, the neighbors didn’t know what was going on with the old farmer and his responses.
The farmer’s son took it upon himself to break in the wild horses. One day while riding the farmer’s son got thrown off by a wild stallion and broke his leg. The neighbors came over and said “we are so sorry to hear about your son’s leg being broken, that is so terrible. Now, you’ll have so much more work to do by yourself.” The farmer looked at them and shrugged his shoulders, “who knows what is good or what is bad?” The confused neighbors left at once.
Soon after the son broke his leg, a war broke out and healthy young men were being drafted into the army. Uniformed soldiers were going door to door and came to recruit the farmer’s son. They found that he was unable to go to war with a broken leg.
Maybe you’ve heard of this parable before. How is it possible for us to know what is good or what is bad? That farmer, he took away judgement, unnecessary meaning and short-term thinking. Something we may all benefit from on occasion.
Where are you labeling something as good or bad when the story hasn’t completely unfolded?
Can you take that energy and put it elsewhere?
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