An old Chinese folktale is told in my family:

Lieh Tzu tells a little story of a Farmer who lives with his son on a mountain. They owned a horse. One day, the horse ran away. They neighbors came to show their sympathy because of the loss. “Why do you think this is bad luck?” the Farmer asked.

Later, the horse came back with several wild horses. This time, the neighbors came to congratulate him. “Why do you think this is good luck?” the Farmer asked.

With several horses around them, the Farmer and his son took to riding. One day, the son fell from his horse and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to show sympathy, and again the Farmer asked them why that should be bad luck.

In the following year, there was a devastating war and thousands of able-bodied men died. Because the Farmer’s son was injured, they were spared.

The lesson I took away from this parable? In life, there are no such things as luck or adversity; success or failure. It all depends on how you look at it.