第4章 It's All Good

I heard the story told recently about a king in Africa who had a close friend 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 remorseful 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 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?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."

万事皆宜

我听到最近有人讲非洲一位国王的故事。国王有一位一起长大的亲密朋友，这个朋友习惯审视自己生活中发生的各种情况，无论正面的还是负面的，他都会说：“这是好事！”

有一天，国王和他的朋友外出打猎。这个朋友为国王装好弹药，准备好枪支。他显然在准备其中一支枪时出了差错，因为国王从朋友这里拿过枪开火后，大拇指被炸飞了。研究分析了情况后，国王的朋友像往常一样说：“这是好事！”国王回答说：“不，这不是好事！”接着就把朋友送进了牢房。

大约一年后，国王在一片他应该知道要避开的地区打猎。食人族抓住了他，把他带到村子里，捆住他的双手，堆起一些木柴，竖起木桩，把他绑在木桩上。

正当他们靠近并放火点燃木柴时，他们注意到国王少了一根大拇指。因为迷信，他们从不吃不完整的人，于是就松开国王，又送他上路。

回家时，别人的提醒让国王想起了自己失去大拇指这件事，那样对待朋友使他感到懊悔。他马上去牢房和朋友交谈。“你是对的，”他说，“我的大拇指被炸飞是好事。”接着，他把发生的一切告诉了朋友。“因此，我很抱歉让你坐了这么久的牢。我这样做真糟糕。”

“不，”他的朋友回答说，“这是好事！”

“你这话什么意思？我让朋友坐了一年牢，这怎么能是好事呢？”

“如果不坐牢，我就会跟你在一起。”