“We’ll see.” The value of perspective in “Charlie Wilson’s War”

Toward the end of the movie Charlie Wilson’s War, there is told a classic parable about jumping to conclusions about whether something is good or bad. In the film, CIA officer Gust Avrakotos (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) warns Texas congressman Charlie Wilson (played by Tom Hanks) that one shouldn’t assume something is good or bad too soon. Gust in this scene advises Charlie to seek support for post-Soviet occupation Afghanistan, referencing the “zen master’s” story of the lost horse. Below is the conversation:

Gust Avrakotos (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) begins:

“There’s a little boy. 

On his fourteenth birthday, he gets a horse. 

Everybody in the village says, ‘How wonderful, the boy got a horse!’

And the Zen master says, ‘We’ll see.’

Two years later the boy falls of the horse, breaks his leg, and everybody in the village says, ‘How terrible.’

And the Zen master says, ‘We’ll see.’

Then a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight, except the boy can’t because his leg’s all messed up

And everybody in the village says, ‘How wonderful!’ “

Then Tom Hanks’s character breaks in and says, “And the Zen master says, ‘We’ll see.’ “

In the movie, the ending suggests that the actions that the US took in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 80s may have had an impact on the events that unfolded during 9/11. Towards the end of this scene you can even hear an airplane that may represent a foreshadowing of the events of Sept 2001.

The message behind this story and the original parable is that we often want to jump to conclusions about whether something is “good” or “bad.” The reality is that things may be either, and time and perspective often determine which. 

Life is often is an interplay of opposites, whether this be described as light and shadow,  yin and yang, good and bad, happiness and unhappiness, or in games: red versus blue. Because we live in the present, it’s difficult in the moment to see which is which.  Though we try, we often can’t correctly predict the future impact of an event. Negative and positive only feels like they do because we place that particular meaning on those moments. Often, the positive feels positive because we’ve experienced the negative. 

In the parable, it’s advised not jump to conclusions too soon. It has been suggested that one should wait and and instead react with “wu wei,” a Chinese expression that means “not act” or “go with the flow.” In my high school Religions of the World class, this was presented as you are only a “leaf on a mighty river.” If you force or rush against the natural order of things, you may make mistakes. 

In your work with data or people, don’t apply judgement too quickly until you can truly understand the full picture. Sometimes that just takes time to give us the right perspective.