Empty, It's all empty

Ecclesiastes 1:1-4

1:1 The words of the Preacher, [1] the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity [2] of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
3 What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun?
4 A generation goes, and a generation comes,
but the earth remains forever.

Footnotes
[1] 1:1 Or Convener, or Collector; Hebrew Qoheleth (so throughout Ecclesiastes)
[2] 1:2 Hebrew vapor (so throughout Ecclesiastes)

• How often have you staked your pride, identity, hopes, and dreams to something on earth?
  
• How much does your job mean to your pride, identity, hopes, and dreams?
  
• How much does your family mean to your pride, identity, hopes, and dreams?
  
• How much does your favorite sport mean to your pride, identity, hopes, and dreams?
  
• How much does your favorite entertainment mean to your pride, identity, hopes, and dreams?
  
• What has happened to the things that you have cherished the most over the years?
  
• Why would the richest, wisest, most famous, and most powerful king of Israel look back at his life and consider it futile, meaningless, vain, and empty?
  
• How many people today look back on their life and find it futile, meaningless, vain, and empty?
  
• A person works hard on the job for 25 years, contributed ideas that helped the organization, sacrificed hours with his family, considered church as a way to network with influential people, smoozed the bosses, and generally tried to advance himself. Suddenly the organization changes and he finds himself laid off or demoted. What advantage did he have in his work under the sun?
  
• A person has researched an area of study for 30 years. He has fought for funding, operated the lab, guided the graduate students, written paper after paper, and grown expert in this area of study. In his personal life, he has sacrificed hours with his family and considered spiritual matters unproductive. One day a new article is published that shakes the foundation of all his research and shows it to be inaccurate because of new and different research. What advantage did he have in his work under the sun?
  
• A person has been successful. She has fought her way through the glass ceiling. Along the way she has had to make choices. She gave up getting married. She gave up a family. She had no time for spiritual things, because she had to make it and she has. She is now wealthy, retired, and alone. Her fortune will be left to charities and her cats. What advantage did she have in her work under the sun?
  
• How many times over the centuries have these sorts of things happened?
  
• What word(s) would you use to describe these lives?