Emo, Vanity and Vexation of Spirit

The silly thought that now that the whole Proposition 8 debacle is in the federal court system, the issue of gay marriage might get resolved nationwide one way or another, soon, passed through my mind yesterday. It was quickly banished, one way or another the issue and or its offspring will linger. So much for desperately seeking closure.

I've been reading Ecclesiastes. He might seem like a downer but he's actually about more than Vanity and Vexation, although you'd never know it at first glance. And, vanity and vexation have different meanings than what we think of today. It would be easy to think of some old guy with a stone tablet in front of mirror arranging each beard hair, but that's not his point. He's talking about our inner perspective of joy as we go through life, only in the strangest, bleakest, and moodiest way possible.

Truly interesting and fascinating opportunities pass through my fingers, as well as lots of difficult things I'd rather not deal with in my life or see happen around me, but I simply have to experience my life with peace, calmness, and take time for a little joy in both the good and the travails that I face. It would be as Ecclesiastes, the preacher said, a "vexation of spirit" to try avoid the realities of life, uncomfortable as they may be. The first footnote in Ecclesiastes regarding vexation of spirit says it translates from the Hebrew as "chasing after the wind."

Son of David and Preacher Man, you are a pretty Emo yet wise man.