I first heard this folk tale in the film Charlie Wilson’s War, where the late Philip Seymour Hoffman played a memorable CIA agent who recounted it.
In a small village in premodern China, a wealthy family gifts their son a splendid horse.
When the villagers celebrate the boy’s good fortune, the local Zen Master cryptically responds, “We’ll see…”
A year later, the youth falls off the horse, breaking his leg and resulting in a pronounced limp.
The villagers now lament the curse this boy is suffering and the dimming of his marriage prospects due to his new disability.
“We’ll see,” replies the Zen Master.
A year after that, the emperor declares war and all the young men in the village are conscripted to go to battle. The young man with the limp is spared due to his disability.
The villagers express wonder that such an unfortunate injury could produce such unexpected protection from serving in the imperial army. They conclude that the boy’s broken leg must have been a blessing in disguise.
“We’ll see,” replies the Zen Master.
Where will this moment of extreme political polarization in the midst of a pandemic, massive unemployment and financial instability, disrupted social support systems and long overdue reckoning with racial inequality ultimately lead?
We’ll see…