The story is told
of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. 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 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!”

 – The Daily Dilly