Mary Sargsyan

Professor Kane

English 115 F

22 November 2019

Progression Exercise #3.2: Letter to a Friend

Dear Melanya,

Recently I came across a Zen story that I think you might find quite interesting. It is

about an old farmer who starts off by losing his horse. The neighbors feel sorry for him and

simply say it is bad luck to make him feel better. The farmer simply responds with “maybe.”

Then when the horse come back along with two new horses, the neighbors that sympathized with

him before now are congratulating him for the turn of events. Once again, he simply says

“maybe.” Then the farmer goes through another negative event that turned out to be positive in

the future, and when he was congratulated by his neighbors he again says, “maybe.”

Right now I know you’ve been going through a lot of stress. You’ve always been

studying and never leave the house now. You have also been somewhat pushing your friends

away even though we try to help you out. Ever since you and your boyfriend broke up, your

grades started to slip and now you are throwing yourself into your studies. I also can tell that you

feel like there is no hope in school anymore since you have been doing poorly. You used to be a

really happy and bubbly person, and after this breakup, you have not been the same and you do

not deserve that. You tend to feel like if something bad happens, it is the end of the world and

there is no light at the end of the tunnel. And on the other side, once things seem like they are
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going good, you feel as if there is no way you can come down from that train of positivity. Right

now, you are looking at your life through a negative lens.

This zen story applies to you since its message is that nothing lasts forever. No matter

how good or how bad things seem, they do not last forever. Right now I can tell you have been

really pessimistic towards school since you slipped up in a few of your classes, but you need to

realize that there is always going to be another semester and another chance to do better. You

need to hear this zen story, since you still have time to fix your grades and improve. Finals is

coming, and with the help of your friends you can study and do well on your finals. Also, when it

comes to relationships no matter how much we want things to be perfect, nothing is. This

relationship did not last, but that does not mean that the world is going to end. You will find the

right person when the time is right. There is always going to be good times and hard times, but

you should not dwell on the negative, since there is always good that eventually comes. Look

forward to it,

Sincerely,

Mary Sargsyan.