Читать книгу The Great Reduction - Jay Trott - Страница 8

A great irreducible truth has been revealed to Solomon in his old age—or through old age—and will not let him go. Any thought of the importance and uniqueness of our toil is lost when we realize that generations come and generations go.

It is hard to say exactly when this happens. Maybe it’s the first time you find yourself being extra careful on the stairs or stymied by blurred words on the page. Maybe it’s when the hearing starts to go. Maybe it’s when you realize that the people in the nursing home are not that much older than you.

But it does happen, except in the oblivious. At some point it will become evident to all that we are far from being immortal. Our heroic struggles and toils do not make us like God. We will pass away into oblivion, and those struggles and toils will be forgotten.

For Solomon, the undertow of this realization came from the fact that it caught him while he was still unhappy. He had been toiling all his life for happiness but had not found it, and now he is beginning to realize that happiness might not be possible at all.