More late-night musings - Writings of a Teacher

Current mood:  tired

Below are words written thousands of years ago by a man called Teacher, said to be the wisest human ever to grace this earth. Amazing how human experiences don't really change over the millenia...the only things that change are the actors playing the characters in this play of life. Of course, there is much more text than this, but this is a good nutshell.

Basically, he reminds us that without enjoying the EVERYDAY ASPECTS of life - simply being satisfied with your life, with your work, and throwing yourself into it with cheerful passion, then the rest of life is simply pointless. Our joy comes from the everyday...or not at all. Time and cruel chance can validate OR undo a lifetime worth of work -  and if we were not happy in the everyday, well, we'll find ourselves with a pretty meaningless ending.

The serendipity of recalling these words is awesome...I needed an attitude booster shot...as I sit here 50% sure that tomorrow will be an episode where I'm unable to walk (I can feel the pain starting to shoot up the foot, and it may be gone when I awake, or render me immobile) and added to the rough week I just had with the dietary experiment, which was nothing but an exhausting series of bewildering failure after another. So far I know that eating...wheat, wheat derivatives, anything that ever looked at a wheat product, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables (salads included), fruit juice, and certain ways of preparing starches like rice and potato...are all sure-fire ways to have an exhausting and bad day. Not the results I was looking for from this past week.

But, it's easy to get bogged down in the morass of self-doubt. Trust me, I know from many days of personal experience...and these words were a great reminder that I enjoy my life now immensely compared to only a few years ago. I can honestly say that other than the time I lived in the dorms with such a great group of guys, this has been some of the most personally satisfying work and time in my life.

And it took beating me upside the head with my own health for me to force myself to take the time out and give this whole teaching/academia thing a chance in the first place...so, regardless of the circumstances, I resolve to eat, drink, and be merry in the work I have before me, for outside of that and the love of those around you, there is no true meaning in daily life.

And now, the words:

"So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God's hands, but no man knows whether love or hate awaits him.

All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, ...

       As it is with the good man,

       so with the sinner;

       as it is with those who take oaths,

       so with those who are afraid to take them.

This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead...

For the living know that they will die,

       but the dead know nothing;

       they have no further reward,

       and even the memory of them is forgotten.

Their love, their hate

       and their jealousy have long since vanished;

       never again will they have a part

       in anything that happens under the sun.

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do...

Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun— all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

I have seen something else under the sun:

       The race is not to the swift

       or the battle to the strong,

       nor does food come to the wise

       or wealth to the brilliant

       or favor to the learned;

       but time and chance happen to them all.

Moreover, no man knows when his hour will come:

       As fish are caught in a cruel net,

       or birds are taken in a snare,

       so men are trapped by evil times

       that fall unexpectedly upon them."

Songs keeping me company during such late night musings –

'The Nobodies'

'Hurt'

'Ugly'

'Thorn Within'

'Nothing Else Matters'

'Mi Soledad y Yo'