By Siatta Scott-Johnson

I have everything that any man could want, which is an understatement considering that I am a CEO with a summer mansion, a winter mansion and many other mansions in other parts of the world. The same could be said about my many associates. I have an army of followers that can vanquish any enemy and a treasury that can buy everything that I desire. Yet, there is no peace. Absolutely no peace.

I think I should seek help from a priest…no, I cannot go to a coward for help. I have everything that can give me an answer. Those so-call religious people are cowards, they have nothing to show for the so-called work they do. They are hiding behind the falsehood of serving a God. Is there a God? Is there a soul? What kind of a man would give up the fun of life to be a priest? Only a coward would do that, someone who could not deal with the pressures of the real world.

Now, after all the years and everything I have achieved, must I go to a coward to seek a way out of my unhappiness? I hate to do this and yet I am not seeing another way. Is this the only way to get rid of my sadness and restlessness?

“What brings this great man to me?” the priest asked with a smile.

“I need something that you have,” I have never said those words to anyone before. I never learned to ask; I only know how to demand. Yes, it was true, the priest had something that I never had. Happiness, some kind of inner joy. He was always smiling and humming something every time saw I him.

“Me? I have something that you want? I would really like to hear what that is,” the priest wouldn’t let his peace be destroyed by lowly insolence.

I have everything and yet I am sad and restless. I am not at peace and you own nothing and yet you have peace. You are not sad; teach me to get rid of this gloom and misery.

The priest smiled, finally understanding why this high and mighty man had come to see him. He spoke to me slowly while looking directly at the men that had come with me “Why don’t you send your men away and stay in my little home for a few days and perhaps I can teach you what you desire?”

Looking at the pathetic little place I saw as an excuse for a home, I had little choice in the matter so I nodded in agreement.

Early the next morning the priest woke me up with a cup of tea that he had made himself. I was touched by his hospitality.

“Do you know of the story of the invention of zero”?

“I think I remembered that zero was discovered by some guy but I don’t remember his name,” I replied. “Well not exactly discovered, you can’t discover a zero but yes he invented it.”

He walked me slowly under a tree at the back of his home, saying “Here is what I want you to do. Pretend that you are back in time where there no zeros and your job is to count all the dried leaves under this tree but without using the zero or any symbol that can signify a zero. You understand?”

I looked at the priest quizzically. “How is that supposed to give me what I want?”

“You have to listen to me if you want what I have,” the priest asserted.

I sighed and went into motion. I began to collect the leaves and then as I reached the number nine I realized that I couldn’t use a zero to make a ten nor I could use anything that could signify a zero, which meant that I needed to create a new number. I created a number for ten, but then eleven could not exist because eleven was one plus a unit of ten that now did not exist, so I had to create a number for eleven. I looked under the tree and saw the amount of leaves strewn around and it came to me very quickly that in front of me was a serious task of creating so many new numbers.

It was a slow, painful job and by the time I had reached a hundred, I had ended up making ninety-one unique numbers and it was driving me mad. I gave up! I went to the priest and told him that it just wasn’t working. This was an impossible feat to achieve. The priest smiled and asked me to sit down next to him.

“Do you know sir, this was exactly the problem that people had before the invention of Zero? Can you tell me what is zero?”

I thought for a moment. “Zero is nothing!”

“And without nothing you cannot count to large numbers. A lot of something needs some nothing to have meaning. Without nothing there is only a lot of something that cannot be put together.”

I was stunned, a realization slowly dawning on me. “You mean, I have a lot of something and no nothing and that is the reason why…”

“Yes sir. You need to have nothing and that nothing is to look beyond yourself. When you do things that would give you nothing, the something you have will mean something. Charity gives you nothing but try it, serving the sick will give you nothing but try it, building a temple will give you nothing but try it, helping the old will give you nothing but try it, bringing a smile to a child’s face will give you nothing but try it… try a lot of nothing and you will see how the something that you have will get a meaning that it does not today.”

I was overwhelmed. I looked at the priest, unable to speak for few long moments. Then fell at his feet. “I now realize how rich you are with your nothing! It gives [one] peace.