Maybe

Maybe…a Short Story

Once upon the time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically.  “Maybe,” the farmer replied.  The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed.  “Maybe,” replied the old man.  The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune.  “Maybe,” answered the farmer.  The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army.  Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out.  “Maybe,” said the farmer…

I shared this insight and short story with our team at Aspire Mortgage Group recently, and I thought it would be valuable for you too!  This is always a classic reminder on how we tend to make limited judgments about what is happening in our lives based on the information we have now.  Is there an alternative to judging, given that the only constant we have in our life is change?  Is it simply a matter of changing our perspective on things? 

Do some people now look back at the “mortgage meltdown”, and see that what it forced people to go through was possibly a blessing in disguise on what we value?  How can we train ourselves, if we CAN, to not judge too quickly, and make it a habit to look at things from a new or more clear perspective?