Week 9 Story: The Pain of an Immortal

Source: True Happy

The Pain of an Immortal

A Japanese Sentaro, who had inherited a huge fortune from his parents, became a billionaire at the age of thirty two. He owned many endless rice fields, and many facilities as well as precious jewels. At first, he was happy because of his wealth, he bought a bigger house, a new car, and everything he wanted without considering the prices. He brought his little family (his wife and his son) to many different places and interested in trying different cuisine. They went on a lot of cruise to the West and celebrated a lot of parties just for risk people.

But, the joy and the pleasure did not last very long, Sentaro felt tired after so many days stay out all night for the parties. Sentaro's health did not allow that. He felt himself growing weaker with age. Then, he started worry about his death and his fortune after the death. Sentaro had heard about the legendary of the King who sought for prolong life with the "Elixir of Life" magic. Although he was not totally believe in the tale, he still prayed for it every night before sleep.

At the age of forty, his business went down a bit, but he didn't care much about it. He kept thinking about the Elixir of life. He wished if there was some power to give him what he wanted in exchange for the money.

At his Fifty year-old, he felt the pain when the Death eventually took his wife away.  She got a blood cancer. Despite of how much money he put on the treatment, there is no medical solution to cure. This was the first time he clearly experience the pain of losing his close relative. And he knew  that the Death would come for him, one day. He continued to pray.

Another ten year passed..

And another ten year had passed...Not only nothing happened to him, but also his business grew larger and larger. Sentano could not describe how happy he was to attending his son's wedding with his strength. He thanked to God that replied to his desire.

At the age of eighty, his friend, one after another passed. He eventually felt alone and he also forgot to wish every night for a Perpetual Life like before. He still lived with his son.

Then, one again he experience the pain of losing his only son when he turned to ninety. Sentano had never thought that he would be the only one saw his loves passed away with his own eyes. This was the first time he experienced the pain of a long-lived. He had quit to wish long time ago.

Now, only him was left in his big and luxury house. His business growth bigger. He had a lot of money, but there was no one joined him. People who belong to his generation had went to another life.

Now, he realized that he had been forgot how to live in a right way because he scared of the death, the thing that everybody would experience in some point in time, and valued money. He was supposed to be happy with his little family giving the chance that he had inherited, but he was not. He forgot to enjoyed his happy life with his wife and his son. He wished, one again, let him go with them so he could build a truly happy life forever. It is meaningless to live alone with the money.

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Author's Note: I modified the story based on The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die. This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. Story source: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).Sentaro in the original version wishes to have a perpetual life, so he sought for a hermits, he could fill his desire. Then a God, Jofuku, ordered a paper crane to take him to the immortal life, where people had never died. However, in this world, people believed that the only truly happy life is the life after death, where they could come to the Paradise. Therefore, they sought for many way to die including drink a toxic chemical or eat the poisonous foods. However, despite of their desperate to die, they still alive. Sentaro after along time lived there, got bored and no longer wanted a immortal life.
It turned out that the whole adventure was just a Sentaro's dream that the God Jofuku relied to his desired. Jofuku wanted to show him that  his desired was not mortal.