The Luckiest Man in Babylon 6
This is the last chapter of The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Classon. Please send me any questions or topics that you would like me to discuss in after completing this book.
Characters:
Sharru Nada – The Merchant Prince of Babylon
Arad Gula – Sharru’s partner
Hadan Gula – Arad’s grandson
Everyday Sharru’s master was more eager that he come home, more eager to divide the money. And he kept on encouraging him to sell more.
Sharru regularly ventured outside the wall, since the overseers over the slaves were good clients. One day he say the same guy who scoffed at work and said he would do the minimum. He looked so bad that Sharru felt sorry for him and gave him one of the honey cakes. He devoured it greedily.
Then one day Arad Gula (Hadan’s grandfather) asked Sharru: “Why dost thou work so hard?” Sharru explained to him what Meggido has said of work and how work is proving to be his best friend. Then Arad enquired what Sharru would do with the money, to which Sharru explained that he wants to buy his freedom and become a merchant.
Then Arad Gula confided in Sharru and told him that he is also a slave and in partnership with his master.
This news is too much for Hadan and he objects fiercely. He cannot imagine that his grandfather was a slave.
Sharru Nada remained calm. “I honor him for rising above his misfortune and becoming a leading citizen of Damascus. Art thou, his grandson, cast of the same mold? Art thou man enough to face true facts, or dost thou prefer to live under false illusions?”
Now that is a question! Do you have what it takes to walk the walk? Do you have the hunger to drive you to get up and do that reading? Or to attend the seminar early on a Saturday morning? How is it with YOU?
Hadan is very upset. “… you sayest he was but a despised slave in Babylon.”
“Had he remained a slave in Babylon, then he might well have been despised, but when, through his own efforts, he became a great man in Damascus, the Gods indeed condoned his misfortunes and honored him with their respect,” Sharru Nada replied.
Arad confided in Sharru that he was scared. He had enough money to buy his freedom, but now he is scared that he will not succeed on his own, that his sales would drop without the support of his master.
Sharru encouraged him to break free and to once again live and act like a free man. To once more acquire the mindset of a free man. “Act like a free man and succeed like one. Decide what thou desirest to accomplish and then work will aid thee to achieve it.”
Work will also help you to realise your dreams, just as work is helping me to reach my dreams. Work comes in many forms. It is work like in labour for money and the jobs we do. But it is also work, such as learning and acquiring knowledge and skills. And especially working on mindset and attitudes. These last may be the most difficult.