Ecclesiastes 1: Where's the Hope? OR Was Solomon dealing with teenagers?

After reading Ecclesiastes 1, my first impression is that the Teacher (who I assume is King Solomon) is an old man who is frustrated with life and is now having to come to terms with his own mortality. Having a fair bit of optimism in my heart (in spite of the critical cynicism of a PhD), I find this first chapter to be a "downer."

Here are a couple of phrases that I find difficult to explain from a Christian perspective:

Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly Meaningless! Everything is meaningless! (1:2)
All things are wearisome, more than one can say. (1:8)

I have seen all things under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (1:15)

For much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. (1:18) [So, is "Ignorance is bliss" a biblical corollary?]

Probably the most personal lament in these verses is in 1:11: There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow. Was Solomon having a pity party? An identity crisis? Lamenting the failure of himself and his people to learn from history?

Perhaps Solomon, with all of the knowledge and power he had attained was feeling a little unappreciated by his family in his old age. Maybe all of the experience and success he had was being ignored by his followers. Maybe he was finding that in his old age there was no consolation for a man with wisdom who had no teachable audience.

So, what does all this mean? Ecclesiastes actually sounds like a book that any parent of adolescents would be able to appreciate. After all, parents know a great deal of stuff. But try passing that on to your teenage kids. It is amazing how much smarter parents get after a child passes from high school into adult life. Maybe Solomon, with all of those wives and concubines, was having trouble administrating the highschool that he himself had probably populated there in Jerusalem. Whatever his personal frustrations, Solomon is expressing a universal lament that focuses on the meaning of life.

The problem for me is this: Is Solomon frustrated without hope? He sure sounds depressed. But I believe that every aspect of scripture is written with the hope of Christ in mind. So, as I journey through Ecclesiastes, my eyes are open to find the hope. After reading Ecclesiastes 1, this may be more difficult than I thought.