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 some distance away. Following the direction where the song wafted from, he saw that it was one of his servants who was singing. The man had such a very contented look on his face. This fascinated the King and he summoned this man to his chambers. When the man entered the chambers, the king asked him 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 tummies. 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 to him and then told him the story of the servant, hoping that somehow, he would be able to come up with some reasoning that would explain why he, a King who could have anything he wished for at a snap of his fingers, was not contented, whereas his servant, who had so little, was extremely contented with life. The Personal Assistant listened attentively to the king and then said, “Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The 99 Club.”
“The 99 Club? the King inquired curiously, “What is it all about?”
The Assistant replied, “Your Majesty, to truly know
what The 99 Club is, you will have to do this; place 99 gold coins in a bag and
leave it at this servant’s doorstep. Then you will then understand what The 99
Club is.”
That very same night, the King arranged for 99 gold coins to be placed in a bag at the servant’s doorstep. Although he was somehow hesitant and thought he should have put 100 gold coins into the bag instead. But since his Assistant had advised 99, that is what he did.
The following morning, the servant was stepping out of his house when he saw a bag at his doorstep. Wondering what its contents could be, he took it into the house and opened the bag. When he opened the bag, he let out a great big shout of joy, “Gold Coins!” And 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. He thought that 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 one 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 before to make up for that one gold coin so as to make his entire collection an even 100 gold coins.
He got up the following day in an extremely horrible mood, shouting at the children and his wife for his delay. He had spent most of the night thinking how he would work hard so that he would have enough money to buy himself that one gold coin. He went to work as usual – but not in his usual best mood, as he grumpily did in his daily errands. The King was puzzled to see that the man’s attitude had changed so drastically. He promptly summoned his assistant to his chambers and related to him his new observation about the servant. The King could not believe that the servant whom until yesterday had been singing away and was happy and content with his life had taken such a sudden downward slope in attitude, when he ought to be happier after receiving the gold coins.
That very same night, the King arranged for 99 gold coins to be placed in a bag at the servant’s doorstep. Although he was somehow hesitant and thought he should have put 100 gold coins into the bag instead. But since his Assistant had advised 99, that is what he did.
The following morning, the servant was stepping out of his house when he saw a bag at his doorstep. Wondering what its contents could be, he took it into the house and opened the bag. When he opened the bag, he let out a great big shout of joy, “Gold Coins!” And 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. He thought that 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 one 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 before to make up for that one gold coin so as to make his entire collection an even 100 gold coins.
He got up the following day in an extremely horrible mood, shouting at the children and his wife for his delay. He had spent most of the night thinking how he would work hard so that he would have enough money to buy himself that one gold coin. He went to work as usual – but not in his usual best mood, as he grumpily did in his daily errands. The King was puzzled to see that the man’s attitude had changed so drastically. He promptly summoned his assistant to his chambers and related to him his new observation about the servant. The King could not believe that the servant whom until yesterday had been singing away and was happy and content with his life had taken such a sudden downward slope in attitude, when he ought to be 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
one to round it up 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 and 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, King decided that from that day onward, he was going to start appreciating the little things in life.
Learning point: 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!
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 and 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, King decided that from that day onward, he was going to start appreciating the little things in life.
Learning point: 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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