About two hundred years ago, a war broke out between two states in Japan.
The smaller state was terrified—its defeat seemed certain. It had far fewer soldiers. In fact, for every ten enemy soldiers, they had only one.
The commanders of the smaller state refused to go to war.
They said,
“This would be utter foolishness. Taking our men to be slaughtered when defeat is inevitable? We refuse.
We will not smear our faces with the ashes of failure, nor will we willingly send our men to die. It’s better to surrender than to die in vain. There’s no hope of victory.”
Even the emperor could say nothing. The logic was sound, and the numbers didn’t lie.
Desperate, the emperor went to a sage living in a nearby village and asked,
“Will you lead my army?”
The very idea baffled the commanders.
When trained military leaders had refused, why ask a sage—someone who had never seen a battlefield, had no experience in warfare, and no military training at all?
It seemed completely impractical.
But the sage agreed.
Even though the emperor was inwardly afraid, he thought:
“If defeat is certain anyway, it’s better to face it head-on.”
The soldiers, however, were nervous.
How could someone with no knowledge of war possibly lead them?
But the sage’s enthusiasm was infectious. They followed.
Even the skeptical commanders tagged along—curious to see what would happen.
A short distance from the enemy camp, the sage stopped the army at a small temple.
He said,
“Before we fight, let us inform God. Let’s ask His will.
If we are meant to lose, we shall return.
If we are meant to win, we’ll move forward.”
The soldiers waited outside, filled with anxious hope.
The sage prayed with folded hands, then pulled a coin from his pocket.
He said,
“I will toss this coin.
If it lands heads up, we’ll take it as a sign that victory is ours.
If it lands tails up, we’ll accept defeat and return—no lives will be wasted needlessly.”
All eyes were fixed on the coin.
It gleamed in the sunlight, flipped in the air, and fell—heads up.
The sage smiled and declared,
“Now, forget your fears. Don’t even think of losing.
You are invincible. The coin has spoken – God is with us.”
The soldiers, now filled with fierce confidence, charged into battle.
In just seven days, they defeated the enemy and returned victorious.
Back near the temple, the sage said,
“Let’s return and give thanks to God.”
The soldiers bowed and prayed,
“Thank you, Lord. If You hadn’t given us a sign, we would have surrendered.
By Your grace, we were victorious.”
The sage then said,
“Before you thank God, take a closer look at the coin I used.”
He pulled it out.
It was double-headed. There was no tails side. It could not have landed any other way.
He said,
“Don’t thank God.
You won because you were filled with hope.
You could have lost—not due to lack of strength, but because of despair.
You were convinced of defeat before the battle even began.”
Learning:
People filled with hope can achieve far more with little strength than those who, despite having great power, are crippled by despair.
Strength is not the most valuable asset—Hope is.
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