Vanity? Useless? Forgotten?

We have been streaming episodes for "Northern Exposure" from Amazon Prime.  Lynn says we watched them all before but I don't remember any of them.  Recently, various characters were wrestling with questions about their achievements and their legacy.  I wanted to refer them to the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament of the Bible.  

I have read that the book was questioned as to its value at various times.  It is the one that contains famous lines, such as "Vanity!  Vanity!  All is vanity!"  The Northern Exposure program never mentions that Biblical line but the book faces questions of achievement and the evaluation of a lived life.  Various men in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska wonder if they have achieved anything of importance or that is notable, or even worthwhile.

I am reminded of the famous poem by Shelley called "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair" in which the poet describes a broken statue lying alone and ignored in the desert.  It bears the inscription of boasting but the circumstances show that the proud, arrogant ruler is no more and has been forgotten.