Thinking about Ecclesiastes

Here's Ecclesiastes 2:21-26 (what we read this morning) in the "conversational style" translation by Eugene Peterson,
 
21 What's the point of working your fingers to the bone if you hand over what you worked for to someone who never lifted a finger for it? Smoke, that's what it is. A bad business from start to finish. 22 So what do you get from a life of hard labor? 23 Pain and grief from dawn to dusk. Never a decent night's rest. Nothing but smoke. 24 The best you can do with your life is have a good time and get by the best you can. The way I see it, that's it - divine fate. 25 Whether we feast or fast, it's up to God. 26 God may give wisdom and knowledge and joy to his favorites, but sinners are assigned a life of hard labor, and end up turning their wages over to God's favorites. Nothing but smoke - and spitting into the wind.
 
---Pretty fresh take on Biblical Text, right?
 
Then the quote I was trying to remember about how all Your Stuff seems so important right now, but really is probably not so crucial:
 
H.Ross Perot... [being rich means more stuff to maintain] yacht basin... nobody smiling... something broke that morning... generator... microwave... things don't mean happiness.
     Look around at things you possess.. [ask yourself if they are] likely to be in existence 200 year from now?
Very likely nothing you own, occupy or consider to be yours will still have nay asoc with your family line, and virtually everything you have may be in someone's garbage one day.

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