Maybe

STORY 1

An old farmer in Iowa grew wheat, soybeans, alfalfa, and hay for many years on his 2,000 acres. Then one year ethanol producers demanded more and more corn, so the old farmer decided to plant corn in all his fields. His neighbor came to visit. "Such good luck, corn is up from $3.50 a bushel to $5 next season!"

"Maybe," the farmer replied. And he sold his future corn at $5 a bushel, expecting to harvest 180 bushels of corn per acre. ($1.8 million)

In the spring devastating floods swept through levees and rose to record levels in Iowa, ruining more than half of the old farmer's corn crop. He would have to BUY the future corn he'd sold, at the current rate of $7.80 a bushel, a much higher rate than expected, in order to provide the corn he'd promised his buyers.

An old farmer in Michigan did the same with his fields, switching to corn from soybeans and hay. His neighbor said the same as the Iowan farmer's neighbor, "Such good luck, corn is up to $5 a bushel!"

"Maybe," the Michigan farmer replied. With the bad luck of massive flooding for the Iowan farmer (and also for farmers in Illinois, and in Indiana, and in Missouri, and in Wisconsin and in Minnesota) costing them millions of acres of lost crops and futures selling, which turned into having to purchase corn to fulfill contracts with buyers, the demand for corn only rose, pushing the price up and up so that the old Michigan farmer would earn more on his corn crop than he ever dreamed (currently $7.80/bushel @ 180 bushels/acre).

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STORY 2

Farmer Don had a little 5 acre farm with beautiful, mature trees surrounding his house, providing shade in the hot summer. His neighbor came to congratulate him, "you are so lucky to have such beautiful tall trees to protect your house from the hot summer sun."

"Maybe," replied farmer Don.

Then a violent wind storm tore through the farm and split the prettiest maple with a honeybee hive in two, causing the tree to fall across his driveway.

"What terrible luck!" his neighbor said.

"Maybe," replied farmer Don. But he happened to have six strong men visiting who helped him chop up the pieces of fallen tree and move them out of the way. The men all told him, "what terrible luck to lose this tree full of honeybees!"

"Maybe," replied farmer Don.

When the men were gone and he began to clear away the fallen tree he looked up and saw the thin, old catalpa tree that had always been dwarfed by the maple before it had fallen in the violent wind. He was looking at the open sky around the catalpa tree when his neighbor came by, and he too looked up at the opened space allowing sun to fall on the catalpa tree, with rich but few white blossoms and heart-shaped leaves.





"Look! How lucky you are that the maple tree fell so your catalpa tree can thrive and grow bigger, providing beauty and grace to your farm."

"Maybe," replied farmer Don.





















These stories are based on the old Taoist story "Maybe.":

There is a Taoist story of an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "Maybe," replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," said the farmer.