I grew up on a resort in the mountains, and we’d have a dozen barrel-sized trash cans filled with kitchen waste behind the dining hall building. There were always a few empty cans as well. We’d also be visited regularly by black bears in the middle of the night. When the bears tipped over the cans that were full, you would not be able to hear them because the contents of the can would muffle the sound. But when they knocked over an empty can, it would roll down the asphalt parking lot clattering along the way and make a terrible commotion. I would learn early on that empty barrels make the most noise.

There is an old Finnish saying: “Tyhjät tynyrit kolisee eniten,” which means “empty barrels make the most noise.” Some have actually attributed this platitude back to Plato. But what does it mean? According to Stettler Independent, the Canadian online newspaper, this saying can be explained thusly:

‘Empty vessels make the most noise’ is a proverb that means those with the least knowledge and least talent are the ones who often speak the loudest and the most.

We all know these types.

They never seem to look for the good in anyone or anything and are often critical, rude and judgemental. They are usually the first to tell you what you’re doing wrong. For your own good of course.

Unfortunately, today’s ease of communication (social media and email) gives them a quick and easy platform – unlike the consequences they would experience in face-to-face interaction.”

Does this definition remind you of anyone? Perhaps it describes an American who was voted out of high office in disgrace, but [who] desperately clung to the vestiges of power up to the very last minute and continues to tear the fabric of this country to shreds to this day, perhaps?

This Finnish saying reminds me of other related sayings in English that I have encountered: “Lies are loud, but the truth is quiet” and perhaps “Still waters run deep.”

Rude people with loud voices are more than just obnoxious. They have a way of browbeating other normal, decent people into submission. If shouting and swearing doesn’t work, then by using pejorative names such as “Crazy Nancy,” “Coco Chow,” “Lyin’ Hillary,” “Little Marco” and “Pocahontas.” These ad hominem terms are interspersed with crude observations of how people eat, perspire, speak accented English and so on. Using the metaphor above, this suggests to me that this person’s barrel is mostly empty, at least of knowledge, talent, and class. Even sadder and more shameful than this is that so many Americans respond positively to this rhetoric and these character flaws.

There are relatively few times that speaking in a loud voice is helpful, unless the house is on fire and you need to wake people up. I’ve seen people trying to converse unsuccessfully with non-English speaking individuals. When they would say something that the visitor could not understand, these people would repeat what they said in a louder voice, as if that would resolve any problems with translation. In other cases, people who tend to speak in a loud voice also type in “CAPS” when offering their opinion on a forum or discussion thread.

Lies are loud but the truth is quiet

I only heard this for the first time earlier this year when I went to the movie Jesus Revolution. But it makes sense, at lesst to me. I personally believe in the power of truth, and the logic of a successful, sound argument. I don’t care for raised voices, or chants, even if the chant is something like “U.S.A.!” What does it mean beyond an “in-your-face” arrogance shouted by people who probably never served their country? The wayward children in Lord of the Flies chanted to psych themselves up for violence. So, you cannot help but hear the noise. But if the truth is a relative whisper vis-à-vis a lie, then you must listen closely for it. You much be focused, attentive, because as Elijah discovered, this is often how God speaks to us. Jesus knocks on the door to our heart (Revelation 3:20.) He doesn’t pound on it.

On the other hand, in what way is the truth quiet? I believe it is so because the truth is often persuasive and people intuitively understand that point without any need to shout. I avoid pastors who talk in a normal tone of voice but then yell while in the pulpit? Why? Why do that? Do people suddenly lose their hearing when a sermon begins? Doesn’t the Word of God have the power to convict and save without screaming?

I’ve known people who betray their ignorance on a topic in an odd, pretentious way. Mention “deep learning,” “artificial intelligence,” “best practices” “normative or summative assessment” and this person would offer a comment about the topic without actually being able to connect the dots. When I had my students write essays, I found that often the student with the least grasp of the subject matter actually wrote more than those students acquainted with it. I’d have to preface the exam instructions by telling the class “If you don’t know the answers to the essay questions, then don’t write a lot.”

Still waters run deep

This is a related idiom in that again, people who are wise are usually not boisterous or loud. Their character has substance, so they don’t rattle and clang like empty barrels. They are mostly quiet people, even as the truth is quiet. The saying “still waters run deep” suggests a humility, an insight and ability to carefully weigh all options to find the best course of action.” People like this are easily and quickly dismissed by others because they are not boisterous, intrusive or demanding. But once engaged, you cannot but help discover much more than you could perceive from their features. Put in a different way:

. . .the phrase still waters run deep is used to say that people with shy, reserved dispositions are often very profound, passionate, and intelligent underneath their calm, quiet demeanors—with many interesting ideas and thoughts. Their placid manner hides a subtle nature, or a complexity that is not immediately clear and obvious. In other words, the phrase describes people who have more going on internally than is apparent externally.”

Even so, a quiet pool of water in the forest can betray what lies below in the dark recesses. There can be active communities of aquatic life and strong, perhaps dangerous currents below that one would not expect simply by peering at the surface of the pool.

Some of the wisest people I’ve met are also the most pensive. Though they talk relatively little, almost everything they say is a pearl of wisdom. Of course, not every quiet person is a genius or potential life coach. Some quiet people are natural introverts, some are shy, others anxious or perhaps disinterested. In other words, some times still waters don’t always run deep.

We need a healthy, wholesome dialogue in our society. It’s not enough to parrot what we hear in the so called “echo chambers” online. Nor is it enough just to talk unless we listen as well.

ou must realize, however, that in the last days difficult times will come.  People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unfeeling, uncooperative, slanderous, degenerate, brutal, hateful of what is good,  traitors, reckless, conceited, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.  They will hold to an outward form of godliness but deny its power. Stay away from such people.“

(II Timothy 3:1-5, ISV). Vector graphic: manfromtheworld (Shutterstock.)