Lenny the Leech
Introducing the Golden Garden
In the heart of the vast, verdant jungle, where the leaves whispered secrets of old and the air was thick with the scent of adventure, there lived a leech named Lenny. Lenny was known throughout the underbrush for his unique talent: he could siphon the essence of stories and wisdom from the creatures he encountered, leaving without a trace once he had his fill. He thrived in the shadows, feasting on the tales of the jungle's denizens without ever contributing a story of his own.
One day, a wise old owl, the guardian of the jungle's lore, announced a change that sent ripples through the forest floor. The owl, who had spent many moons sharing his vast collection of tales and wisdom freely from the ancient Library Tree, decided it was time for a transformation. He had seen the value of his wisdom being taken for granted, and so, he declared that access to the Library Tree would now require a contribution of 10 Golden Leaves a month.
To the creatures of the jungle, the Golden Leaves were more than mere foliage; they were a symbol of appreciation and effort, a currency that reflected the value of the jungle's resources. The owl's announcement was met with a mix of shock and understanding. Many were willing to make the exchange, recognizing the worth of the wisdom that guided them through life's twists and turns.
Lenny, upon hearing this, felt a pang of despair. The Library Tree had been his favorite haunt, a place where he could indulge in the world's secrets without lifting a single segment. The thought of parting with his precious Golden Leaves for what he had always enjoyed freely seemed outrageous to him. Yet, as the days passed and the stories and insights he had taken for granted dried up, Lenny began to feel an emptiness he had never known.
He watched from the shadows as other creatures of the jungle made their way to the Library Tree, their spirits light with anticipation, returning with eyes sparkling with new tales and knowledge. Lenny realized that the stories and wisdom he had feasted upon were not mere words; they were nourishment for the soul, seeds of growth that had the power to transform.
With a heavy heart, Lenny approached the Library Tree one moonlit night, his body laden with 10 Golden Leaves, the weight of them feeling both burdensome and liberating. The wise old owl greeted him with a knowing look, neither judgment nor surprise in his eyes, only the calm acceptance of one who has seen the cycles of the jungle time and again.
"Welcome, Lenny," the owl hooted softly, "Your contribution opens the gates to a world you've known, yet will see anew. These tales, this wisdom, is an investment in your own growth. May you find in these leaves not just stories, but a mirror to your soul, a guide through the dense underbrush of life."
Lenny, with a newfound respect for the exchange of value, nodded silently, his mind buzzing with anticipation and a hint of remorse for not realizing sooner the true worth of the wisdom he had so freely consumed. As he entered the Library Tree, the Golden Leaves in his possession now seemed a small price to pay for the wealth of knowledge and adventure that awaited him, a testament to the idea that the greatest treasures often require a leap of faith, a willingness to invest in oneself.
And so, Lenny's journey through the tales of the jungle began anew, not as a leech, but as a member of the jungle's community, contributing to the cycle of give and take, learning and growing in the light of the wisdom he now held dear.
You’ll find in life that animals of the jungle are comparable to human beings. Certain men have characteristics of a bear or a lion while others are that of a snake or even a cockroach. And on twitter or online communities in general, you’ll often find characteristics of a leech. People who bookmark without liking and more than likely without a chance that they’ll check out that very same post later anyway. Bunch of greedy knowledge thieves with very little recognition or gratefulness to show for all that they’re able to take in. Men have traveled months to visit the Great Library of Alexandria to gather a finite amount of information they’d need whereas today we have every single piece of data that we’d either need or never think to have, but we do. And this does something to your psyche as a human being. It thwarts your mentality and overstimulates you to the point of paralysis. Give a man twenty five options in escaping a cave and he will have a tough time picking one. Give a man two routes and his chances for salvation skyrocket.
Similarly this goes with paying for things versus getting them for free. You value what you pay for a lot more than if it was just given to you. You can see this from a self-made man who got out of the gutters on his own, a man who’s seen the difficulty in the poor life, he appreciates that scoop of black caviar, the Porsche, the Zegna custom suit, he understands the value behind it because he was once at a place where he had none of it. Whereas a rich, spoiled kid will not value any thing he buys because he can always get another. There is no respect nor inherent value on anything he gets, just a usage not a fulfillment.
I’ve never had a problem with paying for courses or getting into fancy clubs where they have beautiful women in lingerie dancing off silk ropes like in Paradise Club in Times Square.
You get what you pay for, and generally the cost of admission is there to weed out the weesh, the soy, the undesirables. This is a good thing for you because the older you get, the more you will seek exclusivity in all places. With women, with your friends, with the restaurants you eat at, the golf courses you play, the mountains you ski down, and the information you get to absorb.
With all this being said, I appreciate my subscribers as a ton of support coming from each of you reading my writing pushes me to write more, and I am delighted to announce that the Raw Manifesto will be going private moving forward. You may be wondering what that entails so here’s what will change:
Nothing.
The only thing that may change is the quality of the posts will be getting sharper and more refined as my writing gets honed by the day. I will be writing more raw on topics I didn’t want to write about that could’ve been accessed so publicly. Topics on seduction, adventures that may tread on certain legal lines, and certain truths and pieces of wisdom I do not feel right giving out for free. Plain and simple.
If you subscribe you are of course supporting me and my journey on becoming a better and more fulfilled writer but so much more than that. You will be granting yourself access to my mind and my heart and most importantly my spirit. With every blog post I will share with you a fragment of who I am and what I believe, and you will be able to glean from that, spiraling your fate into a different dimension if you choose to allow it so.
Only subscribers will be able to comment as I think that is quite fitting. Nearly every one of my pieces will be private except the untitleds. I will also keep a bunch of my old works free and open to those who don’t want to subscribe.
There is an option to subscribe for the year which will discount you $30, that’s 3 vodka sodas at a shitty dive bar, or one beautiful martini at a high-end hotel bar in the Upper West Side. And one beautiful martini is all you need sometimes to find a beautiful daughter of a hedge fund owner.
There is also an option to become a founding member. This is the highest honor as it is shows your support to me and as a thank you, I will write an exclusive piece solely for whoever does pledge to the blog’s long-term success. It will be sent directly to you. This, of course, also comes with a full year subscription.
All in all, I am very excited and happy to say I am thankful for all the kind words you guys send my way. It’s a beautiful thing knowing I’ve touched people from around the world and some how benefitted you in a long-term trajectory. Perhaps you will show this to your friends, parents, or children; that really is the point of RM. It’s to cover what I feel are the most pressing yet undeniable truths of the world in a specific style.
If you’d like to continue being a subscriber of the Raw Manifesto you can subscribe down here and I will see you in a few days on my first paid post.
And you can 10-leg parlay the house that it’s gonna be a banger. See you inside.