The word vanity is used...
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The word vanity is used thirty-one times in Ecclesiastes. It means something flimsy and light; a breath on a cold morning; the opposite of substantial; transitory, in contrast to permanent. The writer is expressing the idea that one's life and work yield no permanent results.
Well, almost. City officials in Mobile, Alabama, a few years ago, might be pardoned if they thought they had a permanent structure on their hands. They wanted to demolish a five-story riverfront warehouse but the building defied their best efforts five straight times. Built in the 30's during the WPA years, the building had walls twenty inches thick and seventy-two support pillars of reinforced steel. The dynamite charges had to be strictly monitored lest the blasts destroy more than they wanted.
Finally a three-thousand-pound wrecking ball was brought in and the job was accomplished. The local press headlined the story, "Hero House Capitulates to Steel Ball." But not without a fight. It was almost permanent.
Well, almost. City officials in Mobile, Alabama, a few years ago, might be pardoned if they thought they had a permanent structure on their hands. They wanted to demolish a five-story riverfront warehouse but the building defied their best efforts five straight times. Built in the 30's during the WPA years, the building had walls twenty inches thick and seventy-two support pillars of reinforced steel. The dynamite charges had to be strictly monitored lest the blasts destroy more than they wanted.
Finally a three-thousand-pound wrecking ball was brought in and the job was accomplished. The local press headlined the story, "Hero House Capitulates to Steel Ball." But not without a fight. It was almost permanent.
