Once upon a time, among the infinite events which pass daily in this
world, a man took his son and daughter to the racetrack to watch the
horses run. After several races, the man announced that he would
place a bet. "We want to play, too!" his children cried excitedly.
"Very well," answered the man. "Here are the names of the horses in
the coming race: 1. Dotty's Trotter; 2. Sure Win; 3. Also Ran; 4.
High Risk; 5. Looking Good; 6. Outside Chance; 7. King Alphonso."
"I want to bet on Sure Win," the boy said eagerly. "There's nothing
like the certainty of success."
"And I will bet on Looking Good; he sounds so handsome and strong,"
the daughter said, with a trace of a sigh.
"Good, children," their father replied, and he went off to place the
bets for them.
"Whom did you bet on, daddy?" the daughter asked when he returned.
"I bet on Outside Chance," he answered.
Soon the race started. The horses bolted from the gate and took off
at top speed. Looking Good looked good around the first turn.
"Yay, yay, yay!" the girl yelled, jumping up and down as the desire
of her heart moved forward. "I'm winning! I'm winning!"
"Patience, my child," said her father. "In horse racing, unlike in
life, we look only at the finish, not at the progress."
"I sure hope that's true," the boy said, "because Sure Win is
running fifth."
"Yes, my son," replied his father, trying to soften an inevitable
blow, "although you know you cannot gamble and be sure at the
same time."
At length the horses came into the final stretch, and, except for
King Alphonso, who trailed rather substantially, there were only a
few lengths between the leader and the trailing horse. But in that
final, all-consuming, frenzied gallop, where mere wish and common
effort give way to inner strength and spiritual power, the spaces
increased, so that finally the children, with their feelings crushed
by the surprise of unexpected failure and by the dismay of dashed
hope, watched the horses run across the finish line in this order:
1. Outside Chance; 2. Also Ran; 3. Dotty's Trotter; 4. Sure Win; 5.
High Risk; 6. Looking Good; 7. King Alphonso.
While the girl burst into unrestrained sobbing, the boy, feeling the
full difficulty of the conflict between youth and manhood, choked
his tears back, and knowing his father to be a philosophical type,
tried to see the metaphorical application of this event. "This race
is an allegory, isn't it, Father?" he asked, "where we learn that to
succeed we must avoid what appears to be a 'Sure Win' and apply
ourselves instead to the 'Outside Chance.'"
"No, my boy," the man answered. "The lesson is that we should not
pay attention to names and appearances, but that we should penetrate
beneath the surfaces of things; that we must consider real
abilities, evaluate past records, and trust our judgment to bring us
to a knowledge of the truth. Appearances and labels are often false
and seldom accurately reflect inner realities. We must not let our
casual perceptions influence our beliefs or rule our actions. I bet
on Outside Chance because he previously has consistently
outperformed the other horses in today's race, or horses that have
beat the others. I care not about his name. Read where it says
that God does not judge by external appearances, and imitate him."
"But I still like Looking Good and I wanted him to win," his
daughter said perversely, wiping her tears and stamping her foot.
"Outside Chance is a creep."
"And now, my daughter," said the man, "you have first felt the
conflict between reason and passion. May you learn to resolve
it well."