09/29/03’s illustrious band:

Sound and Fury

Brought to you by a seminar I attended over the weekend.

I spent a considerable amount of time this weekend in a seminar designed to help inquiring minds like mine try to make some sense of our own motivations and behaviors. One thing we talked a lot about was the importance of distinguishing between what actually happens in our lives and the interpretations we impose upon those events. For instance, let's say the event that occurs is that my friend doesn't say good morning to me at work. I could (A) interpret this to mean that she doesn't like me any more and that she's an evil wench and I'll hate her forever, or (B) acknowledge that she didn't say hello, not worry about it, and move on.

We can all see that choice B is certainly a less upsetting way to go. Unfortunately, B is also the road less traveled by most of us. Why calmly shrug something off when you could work yourself into a lather over it and then get further exercise by carrying the grudge around for years, right? Yeah, when you look at it that way, it's kind of embarrassing.

This is not news, of course. Shakespeare said it best, but probably not first, in Macbeth, Act v. Sc. 5:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
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’s 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.

Let's not let it all signify nothing, though. Let's say what we mean and mean what we say, fret a little less and be idiots a little less, and maybe those brief candles will burn just a little bit brighter. If you must be heard no more after that dusty death, make today's sound and fury count. Tell people you love them and take out the garbage if you said you would. That's all it takes. Go!

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