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144 - the 99 club - See one, do one, teach one
Once upon a time there was a king who was unhappy. He had everything he wanted, but felt unfilfilled. One day walking aroud the kingdom, he came upon a street cleaner who was whistling and appeared to really be enjoying his day. The king looked at him funny, but figured maybe he was just having a good day, so he left him alone. A few days later he saw the same street cleaner , just as happy as the first day. This went on for several weeks.
The king finally asked him, hey, how come you appear to be so happy?” The street cleaner replied , “Well, Sir, I have a beautiful wife, a roof over my head, and I earn enough money to put good food in our bellies and spend time with my kids, I have every reason to be happy”
The king was unsatisfied with this answer, so he called upon the wisest person he knew. He explained this to the wise woman, who told him, "Ah, that’s because the street cleaner is not a member of the 99 club". Seeing how confused at what the 99 club was, the wise woman proceeded to hand the King a bag of 99 gold coins. Go put this on the streetcleaner’s doorstep tonight, and then closely watch how his next few days pan out”
So the king did that. The next morning, the streetcleaner was THRILLED to be met with a bag of gold coins on his doorstep. He counted them carefully. 97, 98, 99 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀he was expecting an even 100. So he counted again. and again, and again. He quickly got angry, accusing his wife and kids of taking that last coin. He spent days and days searching for it, he barely ate or slept.
The king watched from afar as he saw the streetcleaner go from a happy man to a greedy, angry fellow. Then he learned, that once someone comes to expect something, even something as wonderful as a surprise bag of gold coins, they will forget about how good they had it and focus soley on that which they no longer have.
The moral of the story here is that we must remember that at any moment, our expectations can change. At any given time, we may be happy as the streetcleaner was to just do his job and put good food on the table. We must also recognize that if our circumstances change (like getting a bag of 99 gold coins..or in our case, maybe it’s getting a promotion, or in our kid’s cases, more playing time, or their name in the newspaper), our expectations can change too, and those expectations can shape and define our emotional responses to the things that happen to us.
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By Coach Kelli
5
33 ratings
Once upon a time there was a king who was unhappy. He had everything he wanted, but felt unfilfilled. One day walking aroud the kingdom, he came upon a street cleaner who was whistling and appeared to really be enjoying his day. The king looked at him funny, but figured maybe he was just having a good day, so he left him alone. A few days later he saw the same street cleaner , just as happy as the first day. This went on for several weeks.
The king finally asked him, hey, how come you appear to be so happy?” The street cleaner replied , “Well, Sir, I have a beautiful wife, a roof over my head, and I earn enough money to put good food in our bellies and spend time with my kids, I have every reason to be happy”
The king was unsatisfied with this answer, so he called upon the wisest person he knew. He explained this to the wise woman, who told him, "Ah, that’s because the street cleaner is not a member of the 99 club". Seeing how confused at what the 99 club was, the wise woman proceeded to hand the King a bag of 99 gold coins. Go put this on the streetcleaner’s doorstep tonight, and then closely watch how his next few days pan out”
So the king did that. The next morning, the streetcleaner was THRILLED to be met with a bag of gold coins on his doorstep. He counted them carefully. 97, 98, 99 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀he was expecting an even 100. So he counted again. and again, and again. He quickly got angry, accusing his wife and kids of taking that last coin. He spent days and days searching for it, he barely ate or slept.
The king watched from afar as he saw the streetcleaner go from a happy man to a greedy, angry fellow. Then he learned, that once someone comes to expect something, even something as wonderful as a surprise bag of gold coins, they will forget about how good they had it and focus soley on that which they no longer have.
The moral of the story here is that we must remember that at any moment, our expectations can change. At any given time, we may be happy as the streetcleaner was to just do his job and put good food on the table. We must also recognize that if our circumstances change (like getting a bag of 99 gold coins..or in our case, maybe it’s getting a promotion, or in our kid’s cases, more playing time, or their name in the newspaper), our expectations can change too, and those expectations can shape and define our emotional responses to the things that happen to us.