I heard the story
told recently about a king in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up
with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred
in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, "This is good!"
One day the king and
his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare
the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in
preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king
fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation the friend
remarked as usual, "This is good!". To which the king replied,
"No, this is NOT good!" and proceeded to send his friend to jail.
About a year later,
the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of.
Cannibals captured him and took them to their village. They tied his hands,
stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near
to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being
superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the
king they sent him on his way.
As he returned
home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse
for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with
his friend. "You were right" he said, "it was good that my thumb
was blown off." And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just
happened. "And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It
was bad for me to do this."
"No," his
friend replied, "this is good!"
"What do you
mean, 'this is good'! How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a
year."
"If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you."
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