The wiseman in India

How often we feel so misery when we learned that we have a life-threatening illness, or if we lose job, or we have some other unspeakable misfortune.  The following story may be able to direct you to a brighter side; turning a misfortune into an opportunity.

Once upon a time, there was a wise man living in a village of India with his son and a donkey.  They are farmers; they worked in the field using both human and animal powers.

One day, the donkey disappeared; suddenly, the man and his son lost valuable animal power to plow the field.  Their neighbors felt so sorry for them and came to condone them.  The wise-man smiled and said, 

" Don't worry.  It is too early to feel sorry". The wise-man said.

Surely, after a week, the donkey came home with a wild horse.  The horse worth a lot of money.   The neighbors came over to congratulate the wise-man.  The wise-man smiled and said,

"It is too early to congratulate.  We will wait and see."

Two weeks later, the wise-man's son rode on the wild horse and fell from the horse and broke his neck and was seriously crippled.  The neighbors felt so sorry for their misfortune and came to condone them.

Still, the wise-man smiled and said,

"It is too early to feel sorry".

Three months later, the village was engaged a warfare with a neighboring village.  All the capable young men were enlisted and later died in the battle field except his son because his son was crippled from the falling from the wild horse.  

The moral of the story is that a misfortune such as learning about a diagnosis of a life-threatening disease can be an opportunity for a person to have a better and brighter new life.  Here is my own story about turning a misfortune into an opportunity.

Back in 2009 when I came back from Taiwan sabbatical, I was diagnosed with Barrett esophagus, a pre-cancer of esophagus due to acid reflux.  After reading quite a few articles about acid reflux treatment, I was sold for a so-called effective once-for-all surgery procedure, called the Nissen procedure.  I did the procedure in 2012.  That procedure was my worst experience.  Not only the acid reflux symptom did not disappear, it actually got worse.  Any food with certain texture such as meat, I would have serious acid reflux problem.

Thus this misfortune forces me to eat plant-based food and stay away from animal proteins.  It turns out, the misfortune of the surgery became my opportunity for a healthy life style;  exactly what the Indian wise-man teaches about the life lessons.