You never really know in which direction progress lies.

A Chinese story, kind of a Taoistic story about a philosophic farmer.

One day, the farmer's horse ran away, and all the neighbors gathered in the evening and said ‘that’s too bad.’

He said ‘maybe.’

Next day, the horse came back and brought with it seven wild horses. ‘Wow!’ they said, ‘Aren’t you lucky!’

He said ‘maybe.’

The next day, his son grappled with one of these wild horses and tried to break it in, and he got thrown and broke his leg. And all the neighbors said ‘oh, that’s too bad that your son broke his leg.’

He said, ‘maybe.’ The next day, the conscription officers came around, gathering young men for the army, and they rejected his son because he had a broken leg. And the visitors all came around and said ‘Isn’t that great! Your son got out.’

He said, ‘maybe.’

Lesson: You never really know in which direction progress lies. Life unfolds not always as we expect it to.