Riding his bike on the mean streets of Los Angeles, my buddy’s friend was hit by a car.
It was a serious accident and he was lucky to survive, but as it turns out, he was also lucky to have almost been killed.
As he was lying in hospital a routine check detected a cancerous growth on his thyroid, which at this early stage was easy to remove.
If he hadn’t been hit by that car, it might not have been discovered until it was serious.
There’s a Taoist story about a wise Chinese villager who had a wild horse stray onto his property.
His neighbors said to him, “You’re very lucky.” Shrugging his shoulders he responded, “I don’t know, it just is.”
A few days later as his son was breaking in the horse, he was thrown and broke his leg.
This time the villagers said to the old man, “That’s terrible.” Again, he responded, “I don’t know, it just is.”
A few weeks later on their way to battle the Chinese army came through the village and recruited all of the healthy young men to take to war, leaving behind the young man with the broken leg.
Again the villagers said, “You’re very lucky,” and the wise man responded, “I don’t know, it just is.”
Too often in life our emotional states are blown around like a kite dancing in a hurricane, when we rarely know whether something is good or bad in the end.
Those of us with a spiritual path might see it’s all part of God’s plan, others believe things happen for a reason, yet for all of us the first step is accepting what is.
It is said that an optimist sees green lights everywhere they look, a pessimist sees red, and the truly wise person is color blind.