There once was an old man and his son who made a living raising horses, their home lay on the border of barbarian territory. One day, one of their horses escaped and ran off into the foreign land. All the community felt sorry for them; 
“You must be so upset!”, they said.
The old man replied, “We’ll see.”

Months later the horse returned with a group of other good horses. Everyone congratulated the old man;
“You must be so happy!”
“We’ll see.”

In his joy, the old man’s son mounted one of the horses, however he fell and broke his leg. Everyone felt sorry for him;
“What bad luck!”
“We’ll see.”

Time passed, and barbarians attacked. The state conscripted all able-bodied men to repel the invaders. 9 out of 10 men were killed, and the old man’s son was spared the conscription due to his broken leg. Both the old man and his son survived.

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There are many variations of this Chinese parable, derived from the 2nd Century “Huainanzi, the old man sometimes being portrayed instead as a Taoist Master.

The context to my first exposure to the story was its illustration of the uncertainty of the future, how quick we are to ascribe fortune or misfortune, good or bad luck, to given situations. Ultimately, we just don’t know.
To my loved ones’ annoyances I probably say “we’ll see” too often, so the story resonated with and stuck with me.

Besides, Miracles happen.

The old man makes sure to place phenomena in their proper order through his knowledge of the Tao (“The Right/Natural Way”); whether in the smallest or greatest of things, the events of life are a flux between “Yin and Yang”. Our limited human perception cannot totally grasp its intricate consequences, and so the old man’s response is a stable composure, accepting things as they are. He symbolizes Wu-Wei (“Not-Acting”). “Unmoved-Mover”, for Westerners.

Phenomena are fleeting; they come and go like the seasons. Detaching from the fruits of ‘action’ takes practice.

The parable is short, but can be stretched indefinitely. Its wisdom coming from a simple old country man shows that the Tao is accessible to all.

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‘Only Knowledge of the Whole is true Knowledge.’