Once upon a time, according to legend, there lived a small boy . . .
One night, the boy encountered an old man, called Yue Xia Lao, who introduced him to a girl. The girl was pretty and the old man told the boy that she was destined to be his wife. He said that the pair were bound together by a red thread. The boy said he could see no such thing. Yue Xia Lao told him that the thread was invisible.
The boy, not interested in such things, picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it at the girl. It struck her just above the eyebrow. The boy, not caring about the damage he might have done, fled the scene. He left the girl bleeding on the sidewalk.
Many years later, the time came for the boy – now a young man – to be married. His parents, as was traditional in their culture, chose for him a suitable bride. There was a great ceremony, and much celebration.
On the night of the wedding, the young man raised his bride’s veil and saw his new wife for the first time. He was struck by her great beauty, although as he looked at her face, he noticed that, above one eye, she bore a scar. The young man asked his wife about it.
She said that, a long time back, when she had been a small girl, a boy had thrown a rock at her and it had struck her just above the eyebrow, injuring her and leaving the scar.
Yue Xia Lao had been correct. The boy and the girl had been bound together and their lives were connected. The thread had stretched and it had tangled. But the thread had never broken.
This, the Red Thread of Fate, ranks amongst our favorite stories here at OM®. It is a belief, originating from Chinese legend, that the gods attach a red cord to people who are destined to meet each other in a certain situation or help each other in a certain way. The god in charge of such things is called Yue Xia Lao and, once he has joined two people using the invisible red thread, it is certain that those people will meet.
Circumstances might conspire to delay or postpone this meeting, but no matter how stretched or tangled the thread might become, in time, the connection will be made. Those concerned might become lovers or soulmates, or the bond might have some other purpose . . .
That is not important. What matters is the notion that we are all connected. It is a notion that has been around for a long time and one that is here to stay. Here at OM®, we don’t know how we’re all connected and we don’t know why. What we do know is that we are all connected and it is this that inspires our OMs and defines who we are as people and how we go about our lives.
Is there an invisible red thread that tethers us to everyone we’ll ever meet in our lives? Is life so pre-planned? Have our friends and acquaintances been chosen for us? Do we encounter others for this reason?
The truth is that we don’t know, no-one does. But this explanation seems to be as good to us as any, and this is something that we’d like to think might have some basis. Sure, it sounds a little far-fetched. But think about our intertwining lives and suggest something that’s likelier. Trust us, we’ll be all ears!
This is a post that we hope you’ve enjoyed and, if nothing else, we hope it might have made you think: about how and why you’ve met the people you’ve met; about fate and all its twists and turns; and about what it is that tethers us all together in life . . .