DRAMA - PROPER 13, YEAR C
Bible reference: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23
(9 Pentecost, 5 Aug 2001)
WHAT BRINGS HAPPINESS?
CHARACTER: King Solomon
(King Solomon enters, dressed richly as a king)
I'm King Solomon. I'm the king of Jerusalem and people say I'm the wisest man in the whole world. (Shakes head) I used to believe them, but I'm not so sure any more.
You see, I decided that I would use my wisdom to find out what brings happiness. The first thing I tried was education. I figured that if I could become even wiser, then I would be happy. But do you know what? (Frustrated) The more I learnt, the more I realised I didn't know! The more I looked for answers to my questions,the more questions I ended up with! I became rather depressed about the whole thing.
Anyway, I decided that having fun must be the key to happiness. First of all I went to all the comedy clubs and watched all the funny shows and I laughed until my belly hurt. (Pats stomach) But the laughter just seemed to be a mask for the unhappiness that lay underneath. So then I tried cheering myself with wine. I joined a wine club and became a great connoisseur, but when the wine wore off all I was left with was a (Holds head) thumping headache and an empty feeling.
So then I thought building things was the way to go. I built houses and my palace. I planted a vineyard, (we kind of ran short of grapes while I tried out the wine theory). I made gardens and parks planting all kinds of fruit trees. I achieved amazing things and yet I still wasn't happy. So then I thought money was the way to go. (Gets out some coins) I gathered together silver and gold for myself, treasures from kings and places everywhere. I had the largest herds in all of Jerusalem. I was stinking rich and yet I still wasn't happy. (Throws the coins away)
Then I figured if wisdom didn't make me happy, if laughing and drinking didn't make me happy or building things or money, then it had to be women. So I decided to get a few wives . . . seven hundred to be precise, and couple of mistresses on the side . . . three hundred or thereabouts, and see if that was the key to happiness. You know what, it was fun for a while, a different girl every night, but the more partners I had the less the whole thing meant; it didn't satisfy me at all! I became rather bored with the whole thing. Not to mention the 700 hundred mothers-in-law I had to put up with!
Well, by now I had made quite a name for myself and I thought maybe being famous was what happiness was all about. So I put my PR guys to work and it wasn't long before I was the most famous person who had ever lived in Jerusalem, even more famous than my dad, King David. It was great having everybody idolising me and wanting my autograph. (Sighs) But eventually I got sick of it all. People kept hounding me, and in the end I just used to stay home in the palace and have a quiet night with my seven hundred wives.
I'd tried everything I could think of. Anything I saw and wanted I got for myself. I didn't miss out on any pleasure I desired. And for a while when I looked at everything I had done I felt quite pleased with myself. (Shakes head) But then I took another look at everything and I thought about all the hard work I had put in, especially with the wives, and suddenly I realised that it was all useless! It was like chasing the wind! I was going to end up dead like everyone else.
(Frustrated) What's the use of life? All this wisdom I was supposed to have, and I couldn't even figure what the secret of happiness was. Everything I had ever done was all useless. There's got to be more to life than this! (Begin exiting) There's just got to be! (Exits)
© Noel Kluge 1997
Permission is given for the owner of this disk to make sufficient copies of this scriot for their group or congregation, for rehearsal and performance purposes only.
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