11 Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind — of no use at all.
12 After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done.So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish.
13 Oh, I know, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise can see where they are going, and fools cannot.” But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all.
15 I thought to myself, “I will suffer the same fate as fools. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.”
16 No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die — wise and foolish alike.
17 So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.