You Never Know What Happens

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You Never Know What Happens

                I read a book recently called Iron & Silk.  It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read, and it’s about a young white American man in his twenties that loved China and Chinese culture, and he went to China for two years to teach English at a college.  The book is an autobiographical novel in which Mark Salzman, the author, describes his many experiences in China.  This is my favorite part of the book, in which a Chinese man tells Mark an ancient Chinese proverb:

“Don’t worry about it.  Do you know the story of the old man and the horse?  It’s a famous Chinese story, we all learn it when we are children.  An old man’s horse runs away one day.  His friends all say they are sorry to hear about the horse, but the old man says, ‘I’m not worried about it.  You never know what happens.’  Sure enough, a few days later the horse returns, leading a whole heard of wild horses back with it.  Everyone congratulates the old man on his good fortune, but the old man just says, ‘You never know what happens,’ and doesn’t make a big deal out of it.  And sure enough, his only son becomes crippled in an accident while training one of the horses.  Everyone says how sorry they are to hear the sad news, but the old man says, ‘You never know what happens.’  And not long afterward government troops pass through the village looking for healthy young men to recruit for a border campaign.  Of course, the old man’s son is passed over because of his injuries.  This is the Chinese way of thinking.  Speaking honestly, it seems to me that you foreigners get terribly sentimental about little things.”

                This is one of the things I love about Chinese culture.  They stress moderation, which many Western people lack.  We are too extreme, and it would benefit us to just go with the flow more often.  I think that people worry too much about things that aren’t worthy of that much worry, and they need to learn to just move on, and things will get better for them.  I personally believe that God always does what is best for us, even if it doesn’t seem like it at the moment, and billions of people in the world would agree with me.  Even tougher things like illness and death follow this, and many people respond by going into a deep depression.  It’s okay to cry and feel terrible for some time after these unfortunate occurrences, as this is not the time to hide how much you love someone.  However, after this period of mourning, people must know that they need to move on, as God still has more plans for them in their life.  I can personally relate to this, as both my maternal grandmother and grandfather died within the past year, after years of illness and degrading health.  My mother, family and I were very sad, and it took a long time for us to return to our normal lives.  But, we know that God has much more for us to do, and that’s why we’re still here.