I am reminded of an old wisdom story whenever adversity strikes. See if this applies to you, your dental practice and the recession of 2008-?.

My memory of how the story goes is this:

In a mountain village there was an farmer that had captured a beautiful, wild horse. The villagers said 'What a beautiful horse, how lucky you must feel'. The old man replied; 'Good luck, bad luck, we'll see'.

The horse broke through a fence and ran away. The villagers said 'Oh, what bad luck'. The farmer said; 'Good luck, bad luck, we'll see'.

The farmer's son ran after the horse to recapture it. The villagers said to the farmer. 'What bad luck that your son ran after the horse, he could get be injured or get lost'. The farmer replied; 'Good luck, bad luck, we'll see'.

The son came limping back after several days of looking for the horse. He had injured his leg and could no longer work on the farm. The villagers said 'What bad luck that your son can no longer work on the farm'. The farmer said; 'Good luck, bad luck, we'll see'.

The next day a platoon of soldiers stopped by to conscript the farmer's son into military service. They passed the son by because he had an injured leg. The villagers said 'Oh what good luck that they passed your son by because of his injured leg'. The farmer said; 'Good luck, bad luck, we'll see'.”

I first heard this story from Gay Swenson-Barfield, PhD (who has been one of my longtime mentors) 30 years ago. Whenever seeming adversity strikes as the financial crisis has, I remember it and its' lesson "Good luck, bad luck, we'll see". It is one of the paradox's in life that what seems bad often turns out to be good - "Life is best understood backwards, but it must be lived forward." Soren Kiekegaard

This story was used in the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" starring, Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julia Roberts.