Thursday, October 8, 2009

"What We Have He-yah, Is A Fail-yah To... Appreciate."

"What we have here..."

That is one of my favorite movie lines to quote. But what we have here is wake up call. This post is a combination of an email I received which was so fascinating it prodded me on to further research to locate a video of the event described herein. Some of you may already have seen this or read this somewhere previously, but its worth another look. I will editorialize a bit after you watch and read the following.




A Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. The man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.


4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.


6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.


10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.


45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.


1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. [Tiger- obviously one recognized him at the end, but I chose to leave this email intact]



No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest 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, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.


This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.


The questions raised:
  1. In a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
  2. Do we stop to appreciate it?
  3. Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:


If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made.


How many other things are we missing?

Intriguing to ponder, isn't it? I am regularly reminded by the conviction of the Holy Spirit how often I go through my days, busily going from one thing to another, failing to pause and take in the many things that God has blessed me with daily.  I very much doubt the social scientists and journalists from the Washington Post involved in setting this experiment up were motivated by their faith in Jesus Christ, but the overwhelming thought I had was, "How dare I judge those people in the metro station when I am as guilty as they are."

Even as the hectic pace of the world continues to increase, my prayer is that no matter what I find myself doing or where God leads me, I would never be so wrapped up in "my world" that I forget to appreciate the beauty of the one He allows me to occupy- the one He created for us- until He bids us, "Come."

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