Remember Man, that thou art dust, and unto dust shalt thou return.

These words are the traditional Catholic formula for the ‘imposition’ of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday (today, 2026), the commencement of Lent.

But they have a broader, non-religious interpretation too: Eternity cares nothing for fame, wealth, power, beauty, or any other glittering prize which some will debase themselves to pursue and possess.

Revelations of how many of the most fortunate, privileged people on Earth behaved on Jeffrey Epstein’s isle of excess, when they assumed the public would never know, are convulsing the world. So I would hope that anyone who disapproves of what happened there, and in his other havens of unimpeded sybarism, will understand why it seems fitting to state the title, and first line of this post today.

The ancient significance of Ash Wednesday – broadly defined as ‘death to Self’ – may be a reminder of many things. Including of what one may become, in limitless pursuit of sensual appetites. Especially when others who are vulnerable are harmed in that ‘hunt.’

I may have more to write about this phenomenon later, but today seems to offer both a valuable counter-example, and a particularly suitable context for such observations.