The 99 Club
Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite his luxurious
lifestyle, was neither happy nor content.
One day, the King came upon a servant who was singing happily
while he worked. This fascinated the King; why was he, the Supreme Ruler of the
Land, unhappy and gloomy, while a lowly servant had so much .
The King asked the servant, "Why are you so happy?"
The man replied, "Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant,
but my family and I don't need too much - just a roof over our heads and warm
food to fill our tummies."
The king was not satisfied with that reply. Later in the day, he
sought the advice of his most trusted advisor. After hearing the King's woes
and the servant's story, the advisor 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. The advisor replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The
99 Club is, place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's
doorstep."
When the servant saw the bag, he took it into his house. When he
opened the bag, he let out a great shout of joy... so many gold coins!
He began to count them. After several counts, he was at last
convinced that there were 99 coins. He wondered, "What could've happened
to that last gold coin? Surely, no one would leave 99 coins!" He looked
everywhere he could, but that final coin was elusive. Finally, exhausted, he
decided that he was going to have to work harder than ever to earn that gold
coin and complete his collection.
From that day, the servant's life was changed. He was
overworked, horribly grumpy, and castigated his family for not helping him make
that 100th gold coin. He stopped singing while he worked.
Witnessing this drastic transformation, the King was puzzled.
When he sought his advisor's help, the advisor said, "Your Majesty, the
servant has now officially joined The 99 Club."
He continued, "The 99 Club is a name given to those people
who have enough to be happy but are never contented, because they're always
yearning and striving for that extra 1 telling to themselves: "Let me get
that one final thing and then I will be happy for life."
We can be happy, even with very little in our lives, but the
minute we're given something bigger and better, we want even more! We lose our
sleep, our happiness, we hurt the people around us; all these as a price for
our growing needs and desires. That's what joining The 99 Club is all about."