I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

A while back in an episode of a little happier,

I described a teaching story that my mother often

in books to illustrate the idea that we can't know

what's good luck or bad luck.

I'll post a link to that story about the farmer,

his horse, and his son in the show notes.

As I was recently recording the audio book for my book,

40 Ways to Look at Winston Churchill,

I was reminded of this famous teaching story

and it's lesson that we can't know

what's good luck and bad luck

because Churchill draws the same point

from the colorful events of his own life.

Here's what I write.

As Churchill himself noticed,

even seemingly chance events played their role

in helping him to achieve his destiny.

In his memoir My Early Life,

he reflected on the 1896 accident that dislocated his shoulder

and prevented him from using a sword.

The injury bothered him until he died,

...