Empty barrels make the most noise

There is an old saying that all of us should think about from time to time – empty barrels make the most noise – because it will cause us to weigh our words more carefully.

There is an example that is perhaps better than any in history to validate the truth of what I have just shared with you. This example took place back in 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln dedicated the cemetery at Gettysburg near the end of the Civil War. The contrast, or the empty barrel, is when the principal speaker, a man by the name of Edward Everett, gave a two-hour rambling speech, to be followed by the remarks of President Lincoln that took all of three minutes.

Lincoln’s address has been written and quoted thousands, perhaps millions, of times down through the years, and Everett’s address is seldom read or mentioned. Because Lincoln’s message is so famous and speaks the truth so well, I felt it may be of interest to read it today. As one who has given countless speeches over the years, normally around 35 minutes to one hour in length, I can stay within the time constraints pretty well. For my last talk as the closing speaker for our 16th annual Bookcase Literacy Banquet, the chairman told me I had 15 minutes for my talk. When my time came to speak, we were ahead of schedule, and I took about 20 minutes. My self-deprecating humor is what made the difference. So, without further ado, here is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers

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brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war.

We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate – we cannot consecrate – we cannot hallow – this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but we can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

This address was delivered on November 19, 1863, at the cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I have been there.

Hope you have been reminded today of why our nation is so special.

Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in the Log Cabin Democrat in 1995, Jim’s column has been self- syndicated in over 375 newspapers in 35 states.