5. Look Through the Curve

I used to not quite understand one thing: why do we most often have senior people in charge? What's wrong with being young?

I guess the answer is nothing wrong except for being a novice on things. Unfortunately in lives of this world, it simply takes time for a person to get better or closer to the point. This story below seems to reaffirm such idea.

The Old Man on the Frontier Lost His Horse

Once upon a time, there lived an old man on the northern frontier of China. One day, his horse disappeared. His neighbors came to comfort him. But the old man was not upset at all.

He said the loss might turn out to be a good thing. And he was right. A few months later, his horse came back with another horse that was even stronger and faster.

His neighbors came to congratulate him on his gain. But once again, the old man viewed the event differently. He said this "good luck" might turn out to be misfortune in the end.

Strangely, he was right again. A few days later, his son fell from the new horse and broke his leg. But as another turn of fate, since his son was lame after that accident, he was not chosen to be a soldier to fight in another frontier war so that he lived with family safely.

Many Chinese philosophers like to use flowing water as analogy for uncertainties in war, politics, and life itself. Flowing water is full of variety of currents, very often unpredictable and uncontrollable. In the event you spot one current, there might be another hidden one coming.

So how to remain atop of the water flows is definitely a tough challenge. One of the wisest advices given would be: don't get just stuck with one current, go with the trend. Going with trend does not mean simply following suite. Rather you find the big direction of the flow and make efforts to stay in the front.

Life is made of neutral, bad and good things that are always changing and the tides keep turning around. Nowadays people use "The old man on the frontier lost his horse" to teach how to remain cool and upbeat in face of changes.

It implies: Bad luck sometimes turns out to be good luck, and good fortune can sometimes go bad. Just remain patient, keep a forward-looking attitude, and give things time to flash out. For a human being, stay optimistic and consistent is the key to survive and succeed.

As for changes, the landscape of the world today is so very different than it was thirty years ago. Back to the time of 30-40 years ago the world seemed to be pretty stagnant.

For instance, people had to write and post wall paper or scream into big microphone to communicate. Now is what? Email, instant message, mobile text, blog, video conference, etc. You can just click and then talk to the world.

What's going on? IT, Computers, mobile phone, Internet and all other hi-tech gadgets are changing our lives. Immigration, globalization, new rise for countries like China and India are changing the world we live.

This modern train is on the express lane and if you're not at the stop on time you're getting left out. What can you do? How can you get on the train without being left behind before the door shuts? Easy.

Be adaptable.

May sound simple enough but "be adaptable" does change the thought processes of the people and encourage an open mind regarding new things and changes. I don't know if you would, but I do want to make myself more adaptable. I will try.