Everything
happens for the good
In one of India's little kingdoms of
long ago there lived a King who (like most of them) was fond of hunting in wild
places. His Chief Advisor was a very intelligent man, and also a very
optimistic one. He was famous for seeing the rosy side of things. In fact, so
strong was his habit of finding good in everything that at times this annoyed
his ruler.
One day when the King and his Advisor
were on a hunting trip through a dense jungle which went on for miles, the King
decided to have a fresh coconut for his breakfast, and, finding a coconut tree
near at hand, with his sword cut down a coconut. But as luck would have it, his
sword slipped in his hand and came crashing down on one of his toes, cutting it
off! Limping over to his Advisor with loud shouts of pain, he was terribly
shocked to hear the latter say, "Ah, that's wonderful!"
"What?" yelled the King; "I cut off my toe and you say it is wonderful?"
"What?" yelled the King; "I cut off my toe and you say it is wonderful?"
"This is a real blessing,"
replied the Advisor. By now the King was furious, thinking the man was making
fun of him.
"Take it from me," said his
Advisor, "behind this apparent bad accident there is some good which we
cannot now see." That was it! The King had noticed a dry well nearby, and
being a strong man, he picked up his companion and just threw him into that
well. Then he set out to limp back to his fortified town and castle.
This meant, however, walking through
dense jungle, frequented by the wild tribes of those days, some of whom were
headhunters. On his way the King met a band of those headhunters, who decided
that, being royalty, he would make an excellent sacrifice for this month's
festival. As you may imagine, the King did not feel at all honored by this
decision. The warriors carried him to the tribal priest. It was the duty of
this priest to approve all of the offerings that were to be presented. The
priest was most particular to see that the item to be offered to the gods was
perfect in all respects. While anointing the King's body the priest noticed
that he was lacking one toe.
"I am sorry," he told the
King, "but we cannot use you after all for this holy sacrifice. The gods
will not accept anyone who is not whole-bodied. You will have to go."
Naturally the King was delighted and began hobbling away toward his palace.
Aha! He thought, so his Advisor had been right -- there was indeed a hidden
blessing behind that accident. As fast as his wounded leg would allow, he
turned around and went back to the well where he had left his counselor. There
he was, standing down in the well and whistling happily to himself.
Now the king managed to reach down far
enough to grasp the hand of the Advisor and with great effort to pull him up.
Then he apologized for having doubted him and having thought him a fool.
"Oh how sorry I am that I threw
you in there," said the King as he dusted off his courtier. "I was
taken prisoner by some wild native headhunters who were about to make me a
sacrifice victim. Then they saw that my toe was missing, and let me go. And you
foretold all this, in a way. Can you ever forgive me?"
"You need not apologize at all;
it was a blessing that you threw me down the well and left me there."
"Now, how are you going to make
something positive out of that?" queried the King. "Well," said
the other, "if I had been with you they would surely have taken me for
their sacrifice."
Success Principles
It is true that everything in life happens for a purpose, and always for our own good. If you think about it, all our past experiences actually happened to bring us to where we are today and it is always for the good. All the past experiences make us a better person. So, whatever challenges that we may face today, consider it happening to bring us to the next level
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