Cacophony

You start out in your life as though you know everything, though you know virtually nothing at all. Then by the time you’re just about worn out from all you’ve learned your entire life, suddenly you may be overcome by all that you don’t really know, in spite of all that you do actually know. And all around you there's this endless chatter—words, thoughts, ideas, opinions, viewpoints, theories, threats, pronouncements—that if it were water you’d be drowning without making any sense out of it all—a cacophony of shrill instruments unstrung and ultimately with no chords or tune. Maybe there’s something to be said for fat, dumb, and happy (at least for them). But then, Thoreau did go to Walden Pond to get away from his chattering neighbors—and their tidal cacophonies.