Rich

Gah, it seems like forever since I've written anything, well, probably because it has been forever. I know it seems like my last few posts have all started this same way but the truth is I'm working on a bigger project right now. So, once again I sincerely apologize for neglecting this blog and all my readers but I will try my hardest to write more often. Also, for those of us in school or have kids college that are now out and home for summer, I hope your enjoying every second of it as much as I am.

With it being summer, I've had the privileged to see all of my friends once again and catch up. One night I was hanging out with a friend and we were discussing our semesters and school in general when we came across the topics of where our lives were going or where we wanted them to go. Things lead to other things and we started to discuss the meaning of being rich.

The King-

There once was a boy who was fascinated with building things. He would spend every day of his childhood gathering materials to build miniature palaces and kingdoms. Soon the boy grew older and eventually ruled over a huge kingdom that was passed down from his father. The king had everything you could possibly imagine. Everything from gold to all the wives he wanted to exotic animals from all over the world and a huge palace to put all his riches in. He spent his days scheming and plotting new ways to gather new riches and expand his kingdom further and further until it eventually became the largest kingdom in history. Over time the king grew ill. He became sicker and sicker as he grew older and older. One night while on his death bed, the kings oldest son, who was due to inherent the kingdom, came to visit the king. The son noticed the the king looked unhappy and asked what was wrong. The king replied "Son, I have a heart of greed that's filled with nothing but loneliness."

The Beach Bum-

There one lived a boy who loved to play in the ocean. He would spend his days playing in the waves and eventually developed a passion for surfing. As the boy grew up into an adult, he began entering surf competitions. For the first 5 or 6 years the man was broke. He lived in a shack near the beach, drove a old rusty car and spent his days perfecting his surfing techniques and enter more and more competitions. The man was insanely good and had multiple sponsorships. As the man grew older, he eventually married and had a son. They still lived in the shack, drove the old, rusty car and spent their days surfing. This is what amazed the other local people. They all talked behind his back, saying he had a drug problem and this is where all his money went. One day, the locals found the man laying on his surf board on the beach. One of the men searched the body and found a note and map reading: "Half goes to my family and the other half goes to charity." After following the map to the mans house, the found a chest with millions of dollars stashed away.

The Point-

In my first story the king had everything that he thought would make him happy but then realized when he was dying that he was unhappy. In my second story the bum followed what his heart desired and what made him happy. He could of used all the money he won to buy everything he ever wanted but he realized that he didn't need these things to be happy. His happiness came from following what his heart desired.  When I was discussing what our futures hold with my friend, we both realized we were going to school for the wrong reason. We were both going to school to hopefully get rich. That's when I realized that having money and other riches doesn't define happiness. Being rich means following your heart and doing what makes you internally happy. So if you love to sing, sing. If you like to help people progress, become a therapist. But whatever you do, do it because you love doing it. If you don't you will never be happy with what you are doing.