"A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousand of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
Three minutes went by and a middle aged man noticed there was musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.
A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.
A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.
The one who paid the most attention was a 3 year old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.
In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.
No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.
Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100.
This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of an social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. The outlines were: in a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour: Do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize the talent in an unexpected context?
One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?"
Slow Down, We move to fast. This is an article I was able to come across with that made a lit of sense. It is true that the most beautiful things are taken for granted at "ordinary times", which is another term for like "always". Making a renowned musician like Joshua Bell play in a place that you wouldn't imagine him to play at is proof of this.
People couldn't appreciate true beauty unless it slaps them in the face with a scepter. Sure, people would applaud Joshua Bell's music if he had been properly introduced or had played where it was more suited to the occasion. Most would even give him a standing ovation and would pay so much just to hear him play. But without proper introductions, an unconventional setting, and ordinary attire? he just became another hobo who is playing for a few change without people even listening to what beauty he in store for everybody. Beauty has become to much of a perfection to all where you can only spot it if given a correct parameters and what's worse is that beauty has became a trend rather than a quality which makes one manifest deep satisfaction. People see beauty nowadays as what's hot, what's the trend. "You find koreans awesome, i find them awesome too just like all other people", why is that? koreans have always been koreans since then, what made you love them now and not then? Did they evolve into a higher race of beauty than before? Just doesn't make sense, koreans have always been beautiful people but why are you realizing it now? Is it possible it's because others have found them beautiful and you got into the stream? Then, us people have lost grasp of self-realization.
Imagine a beautiful rose in the middle of a mall where thousands of people pass by. No one will notice it at first but after one person stops to admire it, the next person will stop to wonder what the first person is looking at, then see the rose. Then the next person will do the same until everybody is doing the same thing. Only a few will look at that rose and appreciate its beauty for what it is and most will only see that rose for they saw others admiring something they have no idea of.
Slow down, We move to fast. We take too much for granted, learn to see beauty which is always in front of you.
Look at the mirror and learn to appreciate beauty....the beauty of God's creation that is you :)
ainzley
2011
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