#YOLO. Also Shlomo is Merida.

         This week in Megillot, Shlomo decided to join the party life. In the beginning of Perek ב, he says that it is man's job to eat, drink, and be merry because G-d created everything and that is what He wants from you. How fine and dandy and unusual. 

         Then he continues on his little rant and says that there is a time for everything and that G-d is in control of these times, such as birth and death and war and peace. Man is supposed to enjoy the world and serve G-d through this enjoyment. Now, you may have noticed something a little fishy in all of this. If we are supposed to serve G-d through our enjoyment of the world, how are we supposed to serve G-d through times of death and war??

         When we continued on to Perek ג, we see what Shlomo was really getting at. He sees that G-d has all the control over the world and man has none, and comes to the conclusion that the only thing man can do is party it up because who knows what'll happen after you die (aka YOLO). He's pretty much saying that man has no responsibility or accountability for his actions. He also concludes that if that is true, then man is no different from animals- we all have the same fate. Well, we might as well enjoy ourselves because apparently we have no other purpose in life. 

         While learning this Perek, the first thing that popped into my mind was the movie Brave. In this fantastic animation, Merida decides that she doesn't like where her life is headed and that she needs to change her fate. She ends up getting tangled in a witches spell that causes her mother and brothers to turn into bears. The rest of the movie follows Merida as she desperately tries to change her mother back. *SPOILER ALERT* In the end, Merida finds that in order to change her mother back, she has to mend the bond that had been broken between them. By going through this whole ordeal, she was able to change her fate, though it may not have been in the way she had imagined. 

         There is an easy connection here between Shlomo and Merida. They both weren't happy with their lives and they wished their fates would change. Merida was ultimately able to get what she wanted, though her priorities were first straightened out. I guess we'll have to wait and see the end to Shlomo's story...