"The Club 99 "?

Sorry don't curse me .. its a bit long !

Some time ago, there lived a King. He should have been contented with his life, given all the riches and luxuries he had but he was still unhappy and felt something was lacking.

One day, the King had woken up earlier than usual to stroll around his palace. He heard one of his servants happily singing away with a contented look on his face.

The King was fascinated. He summoned this man to his chambers and asked him why he was so happy?

"Your Majesty, I am nothing but a servant, but I make enough to keep my wife and children happy. We don't need too much, a roof over our heads and warm food. My wife and children are content with whatever little I bring. I'm happy because my family is happy."

The King dismissed the man and summoned his Minister to his chambers.

The King related his anguish about his feelings and then the story of the servant to his Minister, hoping that somehow, he will be able to come up with some reasoning for his dis contentment, whereas, his servant, having so little was content.

The Minister said,"Your Majesty, I believe that the servant has not been made part of The Club 99."

"The Club 99?What exactly is that?" the King inquired.

"Your Majesty,to truly know what The Club 99 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 Club 99 is."

That evening,the King arranged for a bag of 99 Gold coins to be placed at the servant's doorstep.

The servant was just stepping out when he saw the bag wondering about it, he took the bag inside and opened it. Then he let out a great big shout of joy...Gold Coins...so many.. Unreal! He called his wife to show her.

The servant then emptied it out on the table and began to count the coins. He realised that there were 99 coins. He thought it was an odd number so he counted again, and again and again... 99 Gold Coins.

He began to wonder what could have happened to that last 1 Gold coin? He searched his entire house, looked around his backyard for hours, not wanting to lose out on that 1 coin.

Finally, exhausted, he decided that he was going to have to work harder to make it a 100 coins.

He got up the next morning in a horrible mood, shouting at the children and his wife for his delay, not realising he had spent most of the night thinking up ways of working hard to earn himself that Gold coin. He went to work as usual grumpy - and not in his usual best mood.

Seeing the man's attitude change drastically, the King was puzzled. He summoned his Minister and related his thoughts about the servant. The King could not believe that his servant had taken a sudden change of attitude,even though he should have been happier after receiving the Gold coins.

The Minister replied "Ah! Your Majesty, the servant has now officially joined The Club 99- a name given to those people who have everything yet are never contented, always working hard 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, wanting more and more. We don't realize the price we pay. We lose our sleep and hurt the people around us. That's what joining The Club 99 is all about."

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!