Good News Bad News

"Everything happens for a reason" is a commonly used phrase. It is especially used by other people when something bad happens in our life. We like to transfer responsibility to something else, a creator, destiny, energy, or karma. The problem with "Everything happens for a reason" is that it's used after the fact. It's like a child going to a doctor to get a flu shot and then getting candy as a prize.

A much better interpretation of things happening to us and our reaction to them is the "Good news, bad news" approach. Life is unpredictable. Many seemingly bad things and good things will happen to us. At some point, we'll be lucky to fall into something fortunate. At others, we'll feel like the world is against us. It will be easy to get caught up in negative thinking and feel like there's no hope.

Instead of "Everything happens for a reason," we can think, "Good news, bad news. Who knows?". This approach is based on the following Chinese parable:

There was once an old Chinese farmer who had a horse to plough his fields. One day, the horse ran away, and his neighbor sympathized, saying, "That's terrible. What are you going to do now?" But the wise farmer replied, "Good news, bad news, who can say?"

A few days later, the horse returned with another horse. The neighbor saw this and exclaimed, "What great good fortune!" But the farmer replied again, "Good news, bad news, who knows?"

Later on, the farmer's son broke his leg when the second horse threw him. The neighbor expressed his condolences and asked, "Who's going to help you on the farm now?" But once again, the farmer replied, "Good news, bad news, who can say?"

As it turned out, a week later, war broke out, and all the able-bodied young men were drafted to fight. But the farmer's son was spared due to his injury. The neighbor saw this and said, "What a relief that your son doesn't have to go to war." And the farmer's response was, you guessed it, "Good news, bad news, who knows?"

This parable teaches us that sometimes we don't know what's good or bad at the moment. It's all about perspective and how we choose to react to the events in our lives. So instead of feeling defeated and hopeless, let's adopt the "Good news, bad news" approach and see what positive outcomes might come our way. Who knows what good news might be just around the corner?