Bad Luck - Trouble?

Bad Luck - Trouble?

• Chinese Bad Luck
• Parachute troops drop in to jail
• Bad Luck - Blame the Messenger?

Chinese Bad Luck

There is an ancient Chinese story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbours sympathised with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, 'Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?'

A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbours congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, 'Good luck? Bad luck? Who knows?'

Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, 'Bad luck? Good luck? Who knows?'

Some weeks later, an army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck?

Who knows?

Parachute troops drop in to jail reports Metro online July 2007

Heavily-armed troops parachuted into a Colorado prison, but they were not staging a daring rescue they had simply landed off target.  Military officials said the 25 Special Operations Command forces were on a training mission. Their target was Fremont County Airport but they ended up in a field in the grounds of Fremont Correctional Facility instead.

Thankfully, armed prison guards were able to identify the incomers as soldiers and held their fire, but the defence department refused to say exactly who they were. 'We don't know who they were and I'm not sure we'll ever know who they were,' said the Colorado Department of Corrections. 'Everyone acted appropriately.'

From the parachutists' point of view it could have been worse!

Bad Luck - Blame the Messenger?

A woman's husband had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, yet she had stayed by his bedside every day.

One day, when he came to, he motioned her to come nearer. He whispered, eyes full of tears, 'You know what? You have been with me all through the bad times. When I got fired, you were there. When my business failed, you were there. When I got shot, you were by my side. When our house burnt down, you were there. When my health started failing, you were by my side. You know what?'

'What dear?' she gently asked.

'I think you are bad luck,' he said.

• N.B. Please send us your Bad Luck experiences
• More clean short jokes for November

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