I’ve heard a similar story from a few different places now that beautifully captures one of my core outlooks on life. I don’t know where this officially comes from, or even how the original version goes, but here’s the gist of it:

There once was a man who owned a single horse. One day, the gate in the yard opened and the horse escaped, running into the distance until it could no longer be seen.

Everyone in the village felt bad for the man for losing his only horse. But when the horrible nature of the event was mentioned to the man, he just said, “We’ll see.”

A few days later, the horse was seen running back to the man’s farm with another horse next to it.

Everyone proclaimed about the great fortune. Not only had the horse returned, but it also had brought a friend, giving the man an additional horse.

When everyone celebrated the fortunate events and congratulated the man on his new horse, the man just said, “We’ll see.”

A few years later after the man’s son had grown, the son took the new horse out to ride around the farm. During the ride, a snake in the bushes spooked the horse and the horse flung the son to the ground, breaking his leg on impact.

The son mourned his injury and felt bad for himself. But the man just said, “We’ll see.”

Just a few weeks later, the man’s country began a brutal war and had a mandatory draft. The man’s son was of proper age to be drafted, but because of his injury he was unable to go to war.

The whole village celebrated the son’s good fortune for avoiding the draft.

But the son just said, “We’ll see.”

-Brandon