In the present-day Nepal, there was a king who had a life to its fullest. It is not known if he had ever seen poverty in his life because no single historian has ever written about it.
Heaven, where God lives, was an example of his kingdom. It was perfect. And if he were alive today, he would be a multi-billionaire.
I don’t really know the genesis of his kingdom and how he made wealth at his times. What I know is one truth. He was pretty wealthy. His kingdom employed thousands of servants. He never lacks and has never come close to it either but having no child to enjoy his fortune was enough reason to justify the fact that not all who are well heeled are happy.
The modern-day celebrities are examples. Having masons that you hardly live in and cars that you don’t even use is a big wonder. The celebrities look happy but they know they are missing something; the freedom because they assume everyone is their enemy. You know as a celebrity, you must employ someone to keep you safe.
There is no doubt, the king has everything but he wasn’t happy because he had no successor to the throne. It was on that day, he made up his mind to give his yet to be born son everything and when the child was born, he promised to show him the whole world, the beautiful part of it.
Three palaces were built for him, each for every season. He was confined in this luxury prison for years. His dad gave him a life that only Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg can give their children today. The son ate delicious foods, had tight security, enjoyed constant entertainment and even women to massage him whenever he was not feeling well.
The king never wanted his son to see the outside world because he would see the common human conditions of suffering and poverty and that may make his son sad. And because the king had never seen such life, he wanted his son to have it. That is the same thing youngest people who have had rough start in life tell themselves that they will work hard for their unborn children to have the life they never had, only to find themselves, 30 years later struggling together with them.
Life doesn’t follow your script. Just relax and swallow the humble pie. If it doesn’t work, accept the reality. Maybe your son will do better than you or even your grandchild.
The king wanted his son to be the happiest human being on earth at all costs. Women were employed to feed him and those who dressed him up. There were those who stood by his bed as he slept. The boy continued to experience a complete abundance but as years went by, he began to feel bad about the life that he was given and he was sad in its place.
Wait, this is far from what the king had imagined for his only son. He wanted his heir to be happy but it seemed like he was in prison. He snuck out of the palace one day but the attempt wasn’t successful. He tried once again and this time, he saw the world that his dad had vowed to protect him from seeing. It was a world of human struggles, pain, sorrow and extreme poverty, of course, this is the world that each one of us tries to escape.
You go to school because you hope that after getting that degree, you will get a job and change your economic status but there are times when you get fs in your exams and you get mad at your lecturer. You know nothing is ever easy. You know you hate the life you live now and that is why you must work hard, to at least change. It is just to escape poverty because we believe when we have everything we need, we will be happy.
This is the same reason our government is plagued with corruption scandals. The South Sudanese president appoints and disappoints his relatives and friends because he is trying to help them break the chains of poverty.
He is just being kind and that is something you can easily do today if you were in his position. You will appoint the people you know because you want their lives to change for the better. You know what I mean; they will make a good use of the opportunity to amass public funds before you remove them again.
It is just in our DNA. We are looking for the same solutions, just like the president, solutions to our financial problems. We all want to be happy and that is why we do all the bad things, hurt others, steal and insult people. We do all these just to escape suffering and life of abject poverty but wait, there is a boy who had seen this life of enough before you and he hated it instead.
His name is Buddha. After living a life of affluence as a prince, he thought that it was not a good life after seeing poor people in his neighbourhood, a scene he thought never existed. He denounced this good life to be a beggar because he believed that would give him happiness but it has never occurred to him that it was going to be worse. Having lived in two worlds, of abundance and lack, the Buddha went on a solo journey to look for the meaning of life, enlightenment and on his way, he became god.
If you have ever heard of Buddhism, this is how it started. It was a son of the king who disagreed with his dad for giving him the best life anyone can ever dream of. Or let me put it this way, it is like when the daughter of our president decides to abandon the life she had to be a fruit vendor in Konyokonyo market and then she realizes it is the worst life ever and instead of returning to her royal life, she decides to be a goddess to understand the meaning of life.
This is the story of Buddha. Let me get back to the point. The whole of humanity is just going through something or most likely running away from something. There is no middle ground. You are either happy with what you have or you are busy chasing the wind because there is no destination. There is a journey and that is all you have. If you have plans for tomorrow, don’t forget to laugh today because tomorrow may never come.
Pay attention to changes to your body, if you are growing a beard, be happy about it. It is a sign that you are ageing. What happens or your current status as you age doesn’t matter. If you are a young girl, don’t stress about your boyfriend if he can’t afford to buy you a phone. Support him, his small business, be his first customer. Be happy for the people you have in your life, and your health. Try to make the ungrateful world a better place now because nothing will ever make you happy tomorrow. Peace.
Note: By reading this article to the end, you acknowledge the time and energy I put into writing.
Thanks!