Dear Richard,
In northern China, there was an old man living near the border together with his family. One day, one of their horses ran away to the other side of the border. The horse disappeared from their sight. They thought that they lost it, as they were not allowed to go to the other side of the border to find the horse. The entire neighbours sent regrets to them. The old man said, 'Well, don't be too worried! Anyway, we couldn't do anything about this. It is not necessarily bad though.'
The next day, the horse that they lost came back to their barn. It also brought another beautiful horse from the other side of the border. His neighbours felt very happy and congratulated him. He said, 'Thank you. But, don't be too excited! This is not the thing that we are working for. It could be a bad sign.'
Several days later, his son rode the horse that came from the other side of the border. As his son didn't know the horse well, he fell down from the horse and seriously broke his leg. His neighbours felt bad for him. He said, 'I felt sorry about my son's accident, too. However, it had happened already and I couldn't do anything to save his leg. On the contrary, it is not necessarily bad though.'
A year later, the enemy across the border attacked China. All man with good health required joining the army. There was a big fight in the battle and it killed almost the whole army. The old man's son was exempted due to his broken leg. His son's life was saved as a result.
Richard, sometimes, it is not up to our control on things to happen, no matter how hard we try. However, we have 100% control on how we look at things and how we interpret it. When you are down and feel bad, you should look at things with a positive mind. There must be something that you could find good about it. But, on the contrary, when you are up and feel good, you still need to be calm. Be prepared for anything that could pull your legs from further success.
With love, Dad