The 99 Club

Once upon a time, there lived a King who, despite 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 in his heart?

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 head and warm food to fill
our tummies."

Later in the day, the King 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 99
Club."
"The 99 Club? And what exactly is that?" the King inquired. The advisor
replied, "Your Majesty, to truly know what The 99 Club is, place 99 Gold
coins in a bag and leave it at this servant's doorstep."

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 have 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 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
99 Club."

He continued, "The 99 Club 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 to round it out to 100! 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. That's what joining The 99 Club is all about."