Man is like the grass that flourishes and is gone.

By GrahamLewis · May 15, 2022 · ·
  1. I'm not much of a Biblical person, not because of animosity toward the Bible or the faith, but because of unfamiliarity. As a kid I only rarely attended Sunday school, and when I did I invariably got lost in any reference to a particular book of the Bible. Later I learned to understand and appreciate Christianity, but never really the Bible per se, especially the Old Testament.

    Anyway, the above words popped into my mind the other day, as I was rooting through long-sealed cardboard boxes in our basement, seeking a ceremonial Chinese tea set given to us as either a wedding or first anniversary present. It was alleged placed, along with other paraphernalia and clutter of our lives, in one of those boxes moved from one city to another, many many moons ago.

    I never found the tea set.

    But I found lots of my past in there. Specifically, old certificates of accomplishment during law school, my law school diploma, my appointment as a federal judicial law clerk, my admission to a couple state bar associations and to practice in federal court, and photographs of me and of some of the judges I worked for. All carefully framed (except for the appointment, which was simply folded up and creased and yellowed) and all carefully packed away. And not much missed, obviously.

    It seemed a shame to consign them back to darkness, so I mounted them on the wall immediately behind my basement writing desk.

    I sometimes glance at them, and sometimes, rarely, remember something from those days. At least two of those judges have passed away, probably all three. And all of that stuff, so important to me at one time, is of only passing relevance to my present life. And once I have gone, will be of only less relevance to my survivors. Then of no value at all.

    I know that for a fact. I know, for example, that I once had a framed certificate of my paternal grandfather's, an honorary appointment to the (obviously) mythical "Nebraska Navy." It was an honorific for his participation in a gubernatorial campaign. That's all I know about it, now that my father has passed on, that and the fact that I cannot find it anywhere, which shows how little it really mattered to me. Sorry, Dad.

    But back to that Biblical reference. I went to my Bartlett's Famous Quotations, and looked it up. It's in Psalms, and reads:
    "As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone. And the place thereof shall know it no more." Psalm 103, 15:16

    Which is totally appropriate. All that stuff once mattered much, now matters little, and will soon be nothing but flotsam and jetsam of a life once lived, the photos probably donated to St. Vincent de Paul for the frames, and perhaps someone somewhere sometime will see one of the photos and wonder who the heck that person is.

    And no one will know.

Comments

  1. CerebralEcstasy
    Your words make me think of Ecclesiastes 1:11. I've included the surrounding verses for context. They follow a similar line of thought to yours. None too shabby I'd say, considering the verses were penned by Solomon who was at one time considered the wisest among men.

    3 What does a person gain from all his hard work

    At which he toils under the sun?+

    4 A generation is going, and a generation is coming,

    But the earth remains* forever.+

    5 The sun rises,* and the sun sets;

    Then it hurries back* to the place where it rises again.+

    6 The wind goes south and circles around to the north;

    Round and round, it continuously circles; the wind keeps making its rounds.

    7 All the streams* flow into the sea, yet the sea is not full.+

    To the place from which the streams flow, there they return so as to flow again.+

    8 All things are wearisome;

    No one can even speak of it.

    The eye is not satisfied at seeing;

    Nor is the ear filled from hearing.

    9 What has been is what will be,

    And what has been done will be done again;

    There is nothing new under the sun.+

    10 Is there anything of which one may say, “Look at this—it is new”?

    It already existed from long ago;

    It already existed before our time.

    11 No one remembers people of former times;

    Nor will anyone remember those who come later;

    Nor will they be remembered by those who come still later.+

    12 I, the congregator, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem.+ 13 I set my heart to study and explore with wisdom+ everything that has been done under the heavens+—the miserable occupation that God has given to the sons of men that keeps them occupied.

    14 I saw all the works that were done under the sun,

    And look! everything was futile, a chasing after the wind.+

    15 What is crooked cannot be made straight,

    And what is lacking cannot possibly be counted.

    16 Then I said in my heart: “Look! I have acquired great wisdom, more than anyone who was before me in Jerusalem,+ and my heart gained a great deal of wisdom and knowledge.”+ 17 I applied my heart to knowing wisdom and to knowing madness* and to knowing folly,+ and this too is a chasing after the wind.

    18 For an abundance of wisdom brings an abundance of frustration,

    So that whoever increases knowledge increases pain.+
      peachalulu and GrahamLewis like this.
  2. peachalulu
    Nice read, Graham.
    I've been reading through the bible again and decided not to avoid the old testament this time - I'm almost done Joshua. It's amazing what history and incites I'd forgotten and what details I'd overlooked (the girls who demanded an inheritance and God gave it to them.) I'm prejudiced being a Christian but it really is the jewel of all books.
      GrahamLewis likes this.
  3. GrahamLewis
    Thanks, Peach. I find myself as a sort of mongrel -- Quaker, Buddhist, and Taoist. I have also discovered the Bible, but I also treasure the Tao Te Ching and other taoist writings, as well as Buddhist writings. I believe wisdom and solace can be found in many places, the key, to me, being sincerity.
  4. Thomas Larmore
    "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," is the Biblical way of expressing the shortness of human life.
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