Money said loudly, “I don’t care what you say, I’m the best. I’m the most desired, the most sought after, and the thing that every man, woman and child on earth wants more than any­thing else in the world. There­fore, I am num­ber one.”

“Non­sense,” replied Sex. “Peo­ple lose more sleep over me than they do over you. Peo­ple will kill for me, and have for thou­sands of years, even before you were invented. Peo­ple will kill for you too but not as much as they will for me. I am the great­est. If you were to develop a scale of one to ten you would no doubt be a ten but I would be off the scale. I’m at least a fif­teen. You may be nec­es­sary, on occa­sion, to get me, but with­out me you are use­less. There­fore, I am num­ber one.”

“You’re both mad. Let me tell you some­thing Sex, and you too Money, if you’re going to fight over which is top dog, give it up, I win hands down.”

Money and Sex looked up from the play board. Their eyes locked for a moment. A sly smile played with the lips of both of them. The warm breeze, that caressed the group, seemed to increase and a dry leaf flut­tered by Sex who flicked it away with a thought. They looked quizzi­cally at Rela­tion­ships who stood stead­fast, armed by the belief that the pair argu­ing couldn’t be more wrong.

Finally Money spoke. “You have got to be kid­ding. What makes you think you’re more impor­tant than I am? What good are you with­out me? For that mat­ter, what good is any­thing with­out me?”

Before the answer came, Sex broke in, address­ing Rela­tion­ships. “And what about me? They can have me with­out you. As a mat­ter of fact I believe that more peo­ple have me with­out estab­lish­ing you then ever before. No, you won’t con­vince me.”

Rela­tion­ships sighed before speak­ing. “It was always that way. Not only you two, but many oth­ers as well feel that you are the impor­tant ones but con­sider this, I rep­re­sent the good­ness and sat­is­fac­tion of the gen­eral com­mu­nity. Imag­ine a world with­out me. Imag­ine a world where not one sin­gle per­son had a friend, or even an acquain­tance. That world would be a cold and frigid one. You both are impor­tant, although I would hes­i­tate to place you in a hier­ar­chy posi­tion as age would def­i­nitely change that, but you are noth­ing with­out me. There­fore, I am num­ber one.”

“Baloney.” a voice rang out. The three turned to the newcomer.

“You all are noth­ing with­out me. Did any­one ever get a thing done with­out me? No.

“Could any­one have a good rela­tion­ship with­out me? No.

“Could any­one enjoy money with­out me? No.

“Could any­one enjoy sex with­out me? No.

“With­out me you want soli­tude. With­out me you bury your head in a pil­low and let the world go by. With­out me you don’t care a whit for a rela­tion­ship. And as far as you go Sex, with­out me peo­ple wouldn’t even be able to spell your name. With­out me there would be lit­tle, if any sex.

“Money with­out me is use­less. A dol­lar, or a mil­lion dol­lars would be all the same with­out me.

“I am num­ber one. Always have been and always will be.”

Money, Sex, and Rela­tion­ships looked at one another sheep­ishly. They could not argue with the new­comer. They knew the new­comer was right. They were all use­less by them­selves, or together with­out the bless­ings of the newcomer.

The new­comer stood up, stretched and yawned. Walk­ing away from the group the new­comer stopped and turned before going out in the world to dis­pense the com­mod­ity that all desired above every­thing else.

“Don’t feel badly my friends. You three are loved by one and by all. But remem­ber always. You are wanted. But I am needed.”

And with that, Health and Well­ness walked off beyond the hill and into the world.