Eat, Drink, and Be Glad
So I commend joy, for there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat, drink, and be glad.
Do I keep postponing today's gladness, saying I will enjoy "after I have lived properly"?
📝Reflection
The place the Preacher, long gazing at impermanence, returns to again and again is, astonishingly, plain gladness. This is not "eat and die" hedonism but the wisdom of not mortgaging today by clutching an uncontrollable future. It is like the Stoic "tomorrow belongs to the gods, today is mine." If we wait to rejoice until all grand meaning is found, the time for joy never comes. To rejoice now in the bread, the water, the people given today — that is the wisest rebellion of one who knows impermanence. Those who cannot rejoice now will not rejoice later either.
🌱Apply It Today
Take one small joy you postponed and enjoy it "now" instead of "later" — a walk, a cup of tea.
This verse is read as universal humanistic wisdom, not religion — no faith is promoted, and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.
