Walking Peacefully with Sid
Sid walked peacefully under the clouds. His mind clearing away toxic thoughts as the clouds dissipated at a complementary speed, matching the speed at which his thoughts were clearing.Eventually, all the clouds had disappeared, and Sid found a form of inner peace attained from achieving empty mind.
In that moment, Sid knew he could never be spiritually liberated while being physically shackled by the temptations of every luxury a man could ask for, which was his burden since birth.
Sid was born a prince, but he wasn't born with desires for worldly treasures; those attributes were learned by him from his relatives, especially his father, and as he was groomed to be the prince and soon after, the next king.
It was expected for Sid to grow up never wanting for anything. Every possible craving was anticipated and addressed before Sid could ever know to ask for it.
There was a pleasantness about him that one could only achieve after indulging every possible craving a man could desire. That pleasantness preceded the prince's footsteps and attracted a crowd among the commoners.
It wasn't long before the prince started mingling with the townsfolk on the daily, and news spread across the kingdom of the chance at meeting the prince in person.
Meanwhile, The king had been mistreating soldiers wounded in battle, dating as far back as three decades earlier and continuing well into the future.
Without the king's support, soldiers lacked medical and financial support necessary in order to reintegrate back into society as effective and contributing citizens.
Over time, the population of neglected veterans had become a growing percentage of the social burdens lofted onto the shoulders of the family and friends of those veteran soldiers.
The veterans quickly became outcasts from the functioning economic eco-system that kept the kingdom thriving through challenging times.
Hearing that the kingdom was at an uproar about meeting his son, the king worried his son might find out how horribly the king neglected those valued members of society, who above all, were willing to give their lives for their country and paid the ultimate cost.
As the decades passed, the population of downtrodden citizen veterans rose to an all time high, becoming the most noticeable of social injustices plaguing the kingdom and the society.
Instead of taking corrective measures to prevent further damage and repair the damages already created, the king decided it was easier to just conceal his sins from his son.
So, the king decided to have soldiers create checkpoints. At these checkpoints, peacekeepers were stationed to secure the lower class and prevent them from seeking an audience with his son, the prince.
Hearing of this news, the prince set out to investigate what was so important for his father to hide from him.
That's when the prince learned his luxuries were at the expense of thousands of young men the same age as him or younger who were dying to feed the war machine that created problems in the first place. Millions were siphoned to fuel the great machine, and the prince felt guilty seeing the cost of the luxuries he had been enjoying.
So the prince confronted his father, but that just led to the same answer. The prince had been responsible for the deaths of soldiers in battle, and he must pay penance.
So, the prince renounced his throne and lived on the streets until finally, he stumbled down by the river and drowned. The prince's guards managed to bring Sid back to life, and it was hailed a miracle.
He sat in a lotus patch near a pond for three days, then went to live in the river for years, washing away his sins, feeding off the current and donations, but literally drinking muddy water for sustenance as charity was shown by the parents of the deceased victims, worsening the guilt he felt.
Then one day, one of his children came to visit. He had many children from his time spent in his royal court with various concubines serving him and his every need. This one child brought him only an apple to eat. The young Buddha Sid (Siddhartha) asked "Why only an apple?"
But his son just shrugged and said, "why don't you come home and eat?"
The Buddha did just that, and upon his return to the castle, he ordered all soldiers to do the same, ending the needless battles that caused so much damage to the kingdom and its reputation.
And so began an era of peace.