Ecclesiastes chapter 9

vs 10

See, that doesn't sound like heaven to me. It sounds like a grave. Because I'm pretty sure all those things will exist in heaven. After all, it is a remake, but fundamental principles will still apply, right? Just perfected.

vs 11

How many people in history have simply been born into the right family, or been at the right place at the right time? The serendipity of science is truly the most pathetic thing about it.

vs 12

Just as good things happen by chance, so do many bad things often happen. Who predicted the economic crisis? Did they predict it with enough certainty to escape its effects? That's the thing - you might know there's a famine coming, but what can you do? The vast majority of people won't listen. Who predicted the tsunami? Or 9/11? Regardless of whether something is natural or man made, they happen and take so many people by surprise. You can't plan for everything, good or bad.

vs 13

Ooh, it must be story time.

vs 14

Small town versus powerful king. They're goners.

vs 15

That's a boring story. What did he do? How did it work? It sounds awesome. Possibly that's the most boring way that story can be told. The poor, wise man saves the city with his wisdom! But no details. And the reason is because that's not the punchline. The punchline is that nobody remembers that poor man. Short memories, all of us.

vs 16

The fact of the anectode is to prove that wisdom is better than strength - a single wise man, though poor, defeats a powerful king's army, with all its seige works. But even though wisdom is better, it is still not remembered. It dies with the man, and drifts into the ether, just like all of man's achievements.

vs 17

Of course, no doubt you need some wisdom to tell which is which. It's a great proverb though. I think we often listen to the loudest voice (usually because it's a big group of voices) rather than the wisest voice. I'm not here advocating an anti-academia, either. Remember that academics are usually the ones that are outvoted by the "people of the pub", who suggest things like sending Aboriginals overeas and locking up refugees in detention centres.

Off topic, but I read in an article a week ago that it costs Australia about $730 a week to keep each person they have in detention locked up. That's more than my wife and I make a week. So they could actually save money by just paying each family in detention that much (then you save $730 for every person after the first) so they could afford to rent a place, buy stuff, and get their lives in order, and they would in fact have a better standard of living than me. But why don't we do that? Because of that exact reason - people can't stand that we might help people so much that they end up with a better life than what they've got. Keep shouting, fools.

vs 18

The stark contrast lies here. Wisdom might be powerful, but sin can so easily destroy anything, regardless of its power. Wisdom by itself even isn't enough to combat sin. Solomon is the obvious example!