One morning my father, who’s a very wise man, asked me to take a walk with him in the woods.

He stood in a clearing and after a short pause, asked:

“Can you hear anything other than the birds chirping?”

I concentrated on what I was hearing for a moment and then answered:

“I’m hearing what sounds like a wagon.”

“Exactly; an empty wagon,” said my father.

“How do you know the wagon’s empty if you haven’t seen it yet?” I asked.

“Well,” replied my father, “it’s easy to tell that the wagon’s empty because of the sound it makes. The emptier the wagon, the louder the noise it makes!”

Even after all these years and now as an adult, whenever I hear someone talk too much or too loud, trying to impress or intimidate, mistreating others, bullying, interrupting everyone’s conversation, being a know-it-all, trying to prove they’re better than everyone else or being stubborn and proud, I can still hear my father say:

“The emptier the wagon, the louder the noise!”

Unknown author