Good? Bad?

As long as I'm just posting to myself, I might as well post this joke.

There's an old Chinese legend about a farmer whose horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit him. "Sorry about your horse," they said, full of sympathy for his misfortune.

"How do you know it's bad luck?" the farmer asked.

Next morning, the horse returned, bringing with it three wild mares. "Oh, this is wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed.

"Wait and see," replied the farmer.

The next day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses and was thrown off, breaking his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy. "What terrible news," they said.

"Well, we're not sure it's really negative," answered the farmer.

The following afternoon, military officials visited the village to draft young men into the army, which was losing many soldiers in a drawn-out war. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.

"Maybe," said the farmer...

[via The Snoozeletter]