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 joy?
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 content, 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 is called joining The 99 Club!
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may you be content throughout your day!
(~_~)
10 comments
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May 17, 2012 at 5:51 am
stuartart
Excellent parable. 🙂
May 17, 2012 at 5:53 am
MysteryCoach
Euw… that’s an icky club….
May 17, 2012 at 7:15 am
mobius faith
Superb.
May 17, 2012 at 5:59 pm
granbee
Oh, I pray that I will be forever a member of the “1” club, the opposite of the “99” club! Excellent lesson here about being happy with the coins in the bag life hands us–and which our own reasonable efforts have earned, not those other coins requiring anxiety and tension and ill-will to earn.
May 17, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Cat Forsley
THANK YOU ALWAYS FOR YOUR WISDOM AND FRIENDSHIP ART ,.
FRIENDSHIP MEANS THE WORLD TO ME 🙂
I WAS JUST LISTENING TO THIS AND MADE ME THINK OF ALL THE WONDERFUL FRIENDS – IN OUR LIVES THAT LIFT US UP IN TIMES OF WORRY AND SADNESS AND POINT US THE RIGHT WAY …….
TO THE LIGHT – WITH LOVE – AND COMPASSION .- THAT’S FRIENDSHIP …:)
GLAD YOUR BRO IS COMING HOME
XO
YOU ALWAYS HAVE ME AS A FRIEND
COUNT ON ME …..
PS – DIDN’T EVEN READ YOUR POST YET –
I WILL AFTER I POST THIS .
I JUST WANTED TO SAY THANK YOU XO
May 17, 2012 at 9:36 pm
Cat Forsley
GREAT POST ….
I AM BACK 🙂
WHAT IS THAT GREAT QUOTE .,…..
?
HOLD ON ….
K- GOT IT …..
“The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way”
🙂
SIMPLICITY ……..AHHH TO SIMPLICITY 🙂
X
May 20, 2012 at 2:28 pm
Sue Dreamwalker
Great Wisdom.. One perhaps many can learn from..
I wonder how many will react soon as their bags of gold will be worth much less… ? I wonder will they then see the simple things in life which Cost nothing are far more important than any amount of Gold.. Love and Light~Sue
May 22, 2012 at 11:21 am
letsspreadcompassion
We want little, God blesses us with more, and then we want even more!Our greed, or yearning you may call it, don’t know where it ends!Loved the Buddha’s quote.
June 17, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Genie
Wonderful parable.
December 26, 2014 at 8:57 pm
Jack Sherman
Sums it all up in a “missing coin.” We think something is missing! It’s all simply a state of mind. Stay on top! Control your happiness!