Yes, Ecclesiastes knew that "of the making of books there is no end and much study is a weariness of the flesh." However, of football games there is no end, either, and much eating expands the flesh as well as wearies it. As long as we live, we will be doing something. For my money, it might as well be writing and reading. Clearly, there can be conversation as long as we are able to think and push words back and forth. But that communication can be a truly joyful communion of you and I -- back and forth, agreeing and disagreeing, comparing and contrasting our observations, our ideas and our reactions. Besides, you telling me about what you have seen and heard and read increases the tailored, intelligent input I get.
At one time, I wondered how scholars and commentators and scientists could still be studying the ancient world. Surely, I thought then, everything about Alexander the Great and Socrates was known. What more could be learned, especially so long after they lived? Then, I realized: each day, each year, each era begins anew. With our recent events, our knowledge and our confusions, we ourselves, living our lives as we do just now, see events and personalities somewhat differently than those before us did. Even the 30-year old sees the world and those she knows and herself a little differently than she did when she was 20.
I read that no play has been discussed, interpreted, compared to the current day, commented on more than Shakespeare's "Hamlet." Many different views of the young man's problems have been constructed and compared. Yet, it may be that some new version is even now being constructed by someone.
The human conversation goes on and on.
