Whatta Wednesday- 8

Are you a Member of Club 99?

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite of 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  Club 99.'

'The Club 99? And what exactly is that?' the King inquired.

The advisor replied, 'Your Majesty, to truly know what The Club 99 is,  place 99 Gold coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep.'  The King did as advised by his advisor.

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 even 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 Club 99.'

He continued, 'The Club 99 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, saying to themselves: 'Let me  get that one final thing and then I will be happy for life.'

Moral: 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. And we stop living life then. Let us live simple and be simple.