Life may not always be pleasant

The story is told of a sultan who had a childhood friend with whom he grew up. This friend a different way of looking at every situation that ever occurred in life in his life, be it positive or negative, and remarking, "This is good!" One day the sultan and his friend were on a hunting trip. The friend would load and prepare the guns for sultan. In preparing one of the guns, the had friend had done something wrong, for after taking the gun from his friend, the sultan;s thumb was blown off when sultan fired it. Examining the situation the friend as usual remarked, "This is good!"

To which the sultan replied angrily, "No, this is Not good!" and put his friend in jail. A year later, Sultan was hunting in a dangerous area. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to it. As they approached to set fire to the wood, they noticed that Sultan's thumb was missing. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So after 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. Immediately, he went to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right, " the Sultan said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off." And I am so 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.