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CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
Cacophony - I am a HARSH and DISCORDANT sound. I slam, bang, bam, shriek and shrill.
Whisper - I am quiet, unobtrusive and gentle.
Cacophony - Stand back! I can be strident and blustering. I can ((amplify )) . I am noise.
Whisper- Shhh...
Cacophony- I am STRONGER than you are.
Whisper - There are times when loud is a good thing, but your incessant, abrasive and rabid babble permeates every facet of a human's existence
Cacophony - Oh, puleeeze... They love it. I am in elevators, restaurants, cars, and stores. It is impossible to find a place where I am not clamoring for the span of a person's attention.
Whisper - Exactly. You are a distraction. It is difficult to ponder, meditate, or pray with you parading around, shouting in their brains and spirits day and night.
Cacophony - (smirking) Yeah, I guess I do corner the market on absorbing and redirecting their attentions.
But, what's it to YOU?
Whisper - Sometimes, I am that still small voice. It can be impossible to hear ME when YOU are yammering.
Cacophony - You seem to think I roar around the earth seeking whom I may devour.
Whisper - Bull's eye, Caco- Phony.
Cacophony - Hey, what about fire alarms, police sirens, symphonies, power tools, thunder, cheering, singing, and sometimes, even praising
Whisper - There is a difference, but you are missing my point. God's people are drowning in the cesspool of your demanding intrusion. The barrier you provide becomes an addiction. They are afraid of living without numbing noise. Some cannot sleep in the absence of television's all night mesmerizing hubbub. Boom-boxed into a deadly stupor, they stumble, dazed and misguided, and are easily led astray by the trumpeting of perverted truth.
Cacophony - (strutting, swaggering)) Wow, I do have power.
Whisper - It is way past time to pull the plug on your hypnotic excessiveness. You are a dictatorial Pied Piper with a line of willing subjects marching toward Pandemonium. They cannot defend themselves against your influence, nor hear ME when they need some re-direction.
Cacophony - Whoa! Back up the bus. In "Paradise Lost," John Milton calls Pandemonium the capital of HELL.
Whisper - He did.
Cacophony - So you are saying the constant bombardment of noise pollution can actually distract humans so effectively they cannot hear their own conscience; that all kinds of senseless strife can result from the inability to communicate with their maker?
Whisper - (quietly and with dignity) Yes.
Cacophony - Well, my unobtrusive murmuring breeze, that means they may never hear the peaceful sounds of summer nights, or the comforting tick- tock from Grandfather's clock. There may be millions of significant and restful melodies and pertinent messages they are missing.
Whisper -You're getting it.
Cacophony - From where I sit, it looks like that situation will only get worse. It is too late to get away from me. I am everywhere. They have no authority or power to halt my insidious hold. Choice is lost.
Whisper - I do not agree. Some will manage to find an "off button" and then your din of iniquity will yield to the serenity of silence. This soothing balm of blessed tranquility will give them a respite from your confusing barrage. It will be sweet music to their ears.
Cacophony -So, then what?
Whisper -The natural progression from there will be WHISPERS in their very spirits, the one thing your reign of deception labors to prevent.
Cacophony - Brilliant insight, oh muffled understatement, but how can you be so sure any will realize a switch is within reach?
Whisper - The obedience of even one is a triumph. "Be still and know that I am Lord," is not a suggestion.
Cacophony - Since you have so much to say, why don't you pump up YOUR volume? Surround sound is most effective. Decibels rule out here in Hurley-Burley Racket City.
Whisper - (With serious authority) SILENCE! I tell you the way is narrow. Sheep will know the Shepherd's voice, but first, intruding pretender, you must HUSH.
(Turning aside) Hark, someone is singing. Oh, how sweet the sound.
"Soft as the voice of an angel, Breathing a lesson unheard -
Hope with a gentle persuasion, whispers her comforting word .
Wait till the darkness is over, wait till the tempest is done.
Hope for the sunshine tomorrow, after the shower is gone.
(Chorus) Whispering hope...O how welcome thy voice,
making my heart ...in its sorrow REJOICE" **
Cacophony - (whines and fades) I'm outta here.
Whisper- (Listening...Smiles)
**Beloved old hymn, Whispering Hope, arr. from Alice Hawthorne
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