There Is Nothing New Under the Sun

Some of you may recognize this line from the Ecclesiastes. The entire verse is as follows:

Ecclesiastes 1:9

New International Version (NIV)

⁹ What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.

I was reminded of this verse while visiting the Mel Fisher Museum in Key West. For those of you who don't know, Mel was a treasurer hunter who spent more than a decade and a half looking for the Atocha, a Spanish ship rich in cargo that sunk off the Keys in 1622.

Two things not new under the sun since that time
- Tax evasion: Items were found in the wreck that did not appear on the manifest. People were attempting to smuggle them in so they didn't have to pay taxes on them.

- Conspicuous consumption: It was fashionable at the time for both men and women to wear extremely long gold chains across the body to show how wealthy they were. They also would snip off pieces of the chain and use them as currency.

Yes, nothing new under the sun.