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| The 99 club |
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| Ankabut |
| 04/16/04 at 14:41:45 |
| A Fictitious story with a moral...... Some time ago, there lived a King. This King should have been contented with his life, given all the riches and luxuries he had. However, this was not the case! The King always found himself wondering why he just never seemed content with his life. Sure, he had the attention of everyone wherever he went, attended fancy dinners and parties, but somehow, he still felt something was lacking and he couldn't put his finger on it. 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 away... following this singing... he saw that one of the servants was singing and had a very contented look on his face. This fascinated the King and he summoned this man to his chambers. The man entered the King's chambers as ordered. The King asked 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 tummy. 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 about his feelings and then related the story of the servant to his Personal Assistant, hoping that somehow, he will be able to come up with some reasoning that here was a King who could have anything he wished for at a snap of his fingers and yet was not contented, whereas, his servant, having so little was extremely contented. The Personal Assistant listened attentively and came to a conclusion. He 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. To which the Assistant replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club 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 99 Club is." That very same evening, the King arranged for 99 Gold coins to be placed in a bag at the servant's doorstep. Although he was slightly hesitant and he thought he should have put 100 Gold coins into the bag, but since his assistant had advised him to put 99, that is what he did. The servant was just stepping out of his house when he saw a bag at his doorstep.Wondering about its contents, he took it into his house and opened the bag. When he opened the bag, he let out a great big shout of joy... Gold Coins... 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 realised that there were 99 coins and he thought it 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 1 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 to make up for that 1 Gold coin to make his entire collection an even 100 Gold Coins. He got up the next morning, in an extremely horrible mood, shouting at the children and his wife for his delay, not realising that he had spent most of the night conjuring ways of working hard so that he had enough money to buy himself that gold coin. He went to work as usual - only not in his usual best mood, singing happily - as he grumpily did his daily errands. Seeing the man's attitude change so drastically, the King was puzzled. He promptly summoned his assistant to his chambers. The King related his thoughts about the servant and once again, his assistant listened. The King could not believe that the servant who until yesterday had been singing away and was happy and content with his life had taken a sudden change of attitude, even though he should have been 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 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, we want more and more and by wanting more and more we don't realise 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 the King decided that from that day onwards, he was going to start appreciating all the little things in life. 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! Author: Unknown (Courtesy: www.everymuslim.com ) May Allah make us of those who are greatful for what we have in shaa Allah. Ma-assalaamah, Ankabut :-) |
| Re: The 99 club |
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| timbuktu |
| 04/17/04 at 02:42:13 |
| [slm] :) I love this story. and now i will tell you the true stories of two men. 1. at my first regular job, i lived at the YMCA, (needing central hetaing and cooked food and rooms to be looked after, etc.), and found among others one man living there. I observed him, and talked a little to him, for one whole year. I saw him in the morning at breakfast, in the evenings at dinner, over the weekend, and in the common room. I always found a smile of happiness on his face. why do I mention it? because he was blind. He had a job as a computer programmer with British Steel. He would get up and come to the dining hall, and he would either get his food, or the dining hall lady would bring it to him. Sometimes the lady would help him in eating; at other times he would eat by himself. I just watched him at a distance, mesmerised by that happiness. Then he would get up with his white stick, and walk to the door, out in the open, towards the bus stop, and get on the bus when it came. In the evenings, I would watch him eat his dinner and sit in a corner in the common room. Sometimes people would come over and talk to him. I watched this for one whole year. It has been very frightening to me to think of blindness, so I am at a loss to understand why he was happy. You see, ever since I heard the pronouncement that I will go blind in six months, I have not been happy. When it did not happen in six months, I just assumed that it would happen suddenly some day, and I couldn't figure out what I will do in such circumstances. Even though I have been given everything anyone could wish for, I laugh and I show enthusiasm for things that please me, but my face does reflect that most of the time I am not happy, and any happiness is only superficial. Why then, a 20-year old boy was so happy, an` that for the entire period of one year he was observed by me? 2. When I came back to Pakistan, at work, my hard work and knowledge was not appreciated, and I was bypassed for promotions and other benefits that I thought I deserved. So, I was I was even more unhappy than my usual. Sensing this, one of my luckier colleagues, who had reached the highest echelons of power, and was also a friend, took me to see one of his childhood friends. We went to a market with a roadside hotel - Pakistani roadside, not american or canadian or british or emirati. We sat at one table (you can guess the standard), and my friend ordered tea. The teawala boy (quite a grownup man, in his early fiftees), came up with tea and a smile. and he looked happy. Then my friend asked him to recite some poetry, and he started giving us poems and ghazals, and couplets from the dewans of classic accomplished poets. It seemed he knew them all by heart. It went on for hours, from which I conclude that the teawala was the owner of that "hotel". My friend informed me that he had brought me there to see how one can be happy even with such a modest living, and to realise that an ordinary chaiwala can know more than us in certain fields. _________________ Some have the gift of realising what they have, and enjoy it, and say thanks to Allah. Others focus on what they do not have, or worry about tomorrow, and make their present miserable (which also makes their tomorrow miserable, too). |
| 04/17/04 at 03:22:56 |
| timbuktu |
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