The Man & The Gold Coin: A Lesson On Gratitude

Before the age of IOUs & paper based currency, there was a man who amassed a great fortune through arduous effort. His money was entirely made of gold coins. At his older age, he had earned & saved enough to receive his net worth from the bank, & retire. From his home, filled with pride, he strutted through town & boldly requested his money in full; upon which he received a large burlap sack of gold. His treasure was heavy, but somehow felt light atop his shoulders as he reminisced on the past era of hard work which translated into opening the new chapter he entered on this day. Walking with his sack, he imagined the life of leisure he would live until his final hours. He thought of the fine silks he would wear. The cured meats he would eat. The pristine silence he would hear. & ultimately the ease of his own mind & body which had been continually disturbed by his exertion throughout the decades. He was nearly overfilled with joy as anyone would who received this great of a return on their investment. As he walked closer towards his home, the pounds of his fortune weighed upon the muscles of his body, & he decided to sit by a river to rest. This was a large body of water which his town depended upon for survival & trade. There were fisherman & merchants who populated the area taking advantage of the opportunities for fresh food & frequent business. It was a bustling scene. Due to the affluence concentrated in this area, there were also thieves looking to acquire through theft in a moment what other people had worked for years to attain. The man was fully aware of this having spent his whole life within the town. He knew which places to be & which not to be. So he sat peacefully observing the scene allowing his body to recover for his continued trek home. To pass the time, he put the sack of gold on the ground by his side & took out a single coin with his aging hand. He admired the way it glistened in the sunshine & the integrity of its metal. Still taken aback by his accomplishment, he sat there in awe that his dreams had finally been realized. He began to flip this coin in the air, enjoying the premium sound & its spectacle with a childlike grin painted across his expression. He flicked his coin with ease three or four times, but on his next go, he gauged the trajectory wrong & his coin fell in the river. He watched his metal with horror as a piece of his new life was in the process of being swept away. In an unacceptable attitude, filled with pride & a protective emotion towards his entire treasure, he didn’t hesitate to jump into the river in an effort to retrieve the one piece. The man acquired his earnings through focused perseverance, & wasn’t going to let his age get in the way of this habit. He had gotten so fixated on his blunder, he left his sack of gold behind on the shore. With endurance he fought against the current, grabbed his coin, & made his soaked way back to where he was sitting. His expectation to toss his once misplaced item to join the rest was contradicted by a paralyzed terror. The sack was gone. Bandits watched the stream of events closely & of course, saw moments of the man desperately jumping into the river as the window to steal his prized possession. The man looked around & saw no signs of where his treasure could be. The scene had too many moving parts to discern a trail. It was lost. With his one coin, he put his old hands in his head with agonizing tears knowing that he was responsible for ignoring the full picture. By placing his attention on the one percent he didn’t have, the other ninety-nine disappeared.

I wonder what precious things we have lost because we were giving our attention to this one percent. When we were unaware of the importance of transitioning from tunnel vision to an inclusive one to maintain what we have achieved. How quickly we forget to be grateful for what we have by always looking for the addition, or replacing what we believed we have lost. We may desire “perfection” because of the longing for wholeness, but at times our perception of what is full is distorted by our fear & pride. By what we imagine is right instead of what actually is. Instead of what actually works. Take a closer look at what’s already around & within you. Because once you lose sight of that & take your treasures for granted, you’ll have nothing. Even if you once worked for something. I have felt the pain of this, & hope this timeless lesson told in a new way allows you to divert a similar fate. If you truly take this to heart, life will reward you.