Clanging Cymbals

August 31, 2025

A long time ago, in a classroom far, far away, in my high school English Literature class, either in my Sophomore or Junior year, I think, Dr. Ben Dennis introduced me to the wonderful world of William Shakespeare by having me and my classmates memorize and recite a soliloquy from the play Macbeth.  It goes like this. “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Dr. D, I am sort of proud of the fact that I could still quote most of that from memory 40 years later. I may or may not have needed a gentle reminder from Google about the last syllable of recorded time part, but I picked right back up again when I got to all our yesterdays. I must also admit that I still don’t understand Shakespeare. I didn’t understand him then, and forty years later, that failure to understand has remained consistent. What made me recall that fond memory of Macbeth was on account of what happened at lunch. While eating my sammich and chips, I was watching whatever was on TV, and the channel happened to be airing a program about international events and issues. Two talking heads were debating gun control and climate change. Even though I tuned in right in the middle of the show, it didn’t take long for my steel-trap-like mind to figure out these two guys held opposing views. It also didn’t take me long to realize these two guys were both full of hot air. They both said a lot, but really didn’t say anything, if you know what I mean. The longer this debate went on, the louder the two guys got, and that’s when I remembered that last line of Bill Shakespeare. The part that said, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” As I finished the last bite of my sammich, I thought to myself, “Well, there goes fifteen minutes of my life I’ll never get back.” Then, it dawned on me that there are a lot of idiots telling their tales in our world today. With the advent of social media, the idiot population has exploded. Shakespeare wasn’t the first to notice people full of hot air. The Apostle Paul called this hot air “clanging cymbals.” Our neighbor used to have a dog that barked constantly. My dad said that the dog barked just because he had a mouth. Fellow Christ followers, may we choose our words deliberately and carefully. We have been called to swim against the loud, clanging cacophony of “sound and fury” that is so prevalent in our world today. May we flavor our world with the salt and light of Jesus Christ. May God’s mighty remnant rise above the idiots of our world and sprinkle it with the wisdom found in the still, small voice of God.

Be blessed and be a blessing . . . Bro. Andy