Into the Fire

Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,

and also madness and folly.

What more can the king's successor do

than what has already been done?

I saw that wisdom is better than folly,

just as light is better than darkness.

The wise man has eyes in his head,

while the fool walks in darkness;

but I came to realize

that the same fate overtakes them both.

Then I thought in my heart,

"The fate of the fool will overtake me also.

What then do I gain by being wise?"

I said in my heart,

"This too is meaningless."

For the wise man, like the fool, will not be

long remembered;

in days to come both will be forgotten.

Like the fool, the wise man too must die!

Ecclesiastes 2:12-16 (NIV)