Some
time ago, there lived a King. This King should have been contented with his
life, given all the riches and luxuries he had. However, this was not the case!
The King always found himself wondering why he just never seemed content with his
life.
Sure,
he had the attention of everyone wherever he went, attended fancy dinners and
parties, but somehow, he still felt something was lacking and he couldn't put
his finger on it.
One
day, the King had woken up earlier than usual to stroll around his palace. He
entered his huge living room and came to a stop when he heard someone happily
singing away... following this singing... he saw that one of the servants was
singing and had a very contented look on his face.
This
fascinated the King and he summoned this man to his chambers.
The
man entered the King's chambers as ordered. The King asked why he was so happy?
To
this the man replied: "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but I
make enough of a living to keep my wife and children happy. We don't need too
much, a roof over our heads and warm food to fill our tummy. My wife and
children are my inspiration, they are content with whatever little I bring
home. I am happy because my family is happy."
Hearing
this, the King dismissed the servant and summoned his Personal Assistant to his
chambers.
The
King related his personal anguish about his feelings and then related the story
of the servant to his Personal Assistant, hoping that somehow, he will be able
to come up with some reasoning that here was a King who could have anything he
wished for at a snap of his fingers and yet was not contented, whereas, his
servant, having so little was extremely contented.
The
Personal Assistant listened attentively and came to a conclusion. He said,
"Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99
Club."
"The
99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired.
To
which the Assistant replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club
is, you will have to do the following... place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave
it at this servant's doorstep, you will then understand what The 99 Club
is."
That
very same evening, the King arranged for 99 Gold coins to be placed in a bag at
the servant's doorstep. Although he was slightly hesitant and he thought he
should have put 100 Gold coins into the bag, but since his assistant had
advised him to put 99 that is what he did.
The
servant was just stepping out of his house when he saw a bag at his doorstep.
Wondering about its contents, he took it into his house and opened the bag.
When he opened the bag, he let out a great big shout of joy...Gold Coins... so
many of them. He could hardly believe it. He called his wife to show her the
coins.
He
then took the bag to a table and emptied it out and began to count the coins.
Doing so, he realized that there were 99 coins and he thought it was an odd
number so he counted again, and again and again only to come to the same
conclusion... 99 Gold Coins.
He
began to wonder, what could have happened to that last 1 coin? For no one would
leave 99 coins. He began to search his entire house, looked around his backyard
for hours, not wanting to lose out on that one coin. Finally, exhausted, he
decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to make up for that
1 Gold coin to make his entire collection an even 100 Gold Coins.
He
got up the next morning, in an extremely horrible mood, shouting at the
children and his wife for his delay, not realizing that he had spent most of
the night conjuring ways of working hard so that he had enough money to buy
himself that gold coin. He went to work as usual - but not in his usual best
mood, singing happily - as he grumpily did his daily errands.
Seeing
the man's attitude change so drastically, the King was puzzled. He promptly
summoned his assistant to his chambers. The King related his thoughts about the
servant and once again, his assistant listened. The King could not believe that
the servant who until yesterday had been singing away and was happy and content
with his life had taken a sudden change of attitude, even though he should have
been happier after receiving the gold coins.
To
this the assistant replied "Ah! But your Majesty, the servant has now
officially joined The 99 Club." He explained: "The 99 Club is just a
name given to those people who have everything but yet are never contented,
therefore they are always working hard and striving for that extra 1 to round
it out to 100!
We
have so much to be thankful for and we can live with very little in our lives,
but the minute we are given something bigger and better, we want even more!
We
are not the same happy contented person we used to be, we want more and more
and by wanting more and more we don't realize the price we pay for it. We lose
our sleep, our happiness; we hurt the people around us just as a price to pay
for our growing needs and desires. That is what joining The 99 Club is all
about."
Hearing
this the King decided that from that day onwards, he was going to start
appreciating all the little things in life.
Striving
for more is always good, but let's not strive so hard and for so much that we
lose all those near and dear to our hearts, we shouldn't compromise our
happiness for moments of luxuries!
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