No time for the Maestro
"If we can't take the time out of our lives to stay a moment and listen to one of the best musicians on Earth play some of the best music ever written; if the surge of modern life so overpowers us that we are deaf and blind to something like that -- then what else are we missing?"
Good question. Violin virtuoso Joshua Bell makes $1,000 a minute when he plays in concert halls. But on January 12, 2007 he took his $3.5 million Stradivari violin and performed in a metro station as a street musician. In 43 minutes, as the violinist performed six classical pieces, 1,097 people passed by.
"In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look."
"It was a strange feeling, that people were actually, ah..." - the word doesn't come easily - "...ignoring me", Joshua Bell told the Washington Post.
Have a look at this video clip that I first saw in our church. Our pastor used this clip to make a good point about another Maestro with a Joshua-like name who is trying to get our attention. Do we stop and listen to him? Or are we just too busy to take any notice?
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5 comments:
I've seen the clip before but you make a great point... "Do we stop and listen"... Sadly, no.
Oh the number of people who pass by the church and fail to come in and join the saints at the feast table. I wonder how many would pass by if communion were offered in the streets, how many would pass by and throw a some loose change into the plate, and how many simply wouldn't even notice.
Voor de huiskring hebben we een opdracht om een uur te wandelen met God. Klinkt misschien vreemd, maar om eens te luisteren en tijd te nemen. Ik dacht eerst: een uur! Ik heb geen uur over. Maar toen ik erop ging letten, merkte ik dat ik ook gerust een uur aan de telefoon zat of achter de computer. Tijd is er dus wel, maar tijd heb je niet, tijd moet je nemen, zegt een poster in onze wijk. Vandaag zal ik proberen tijd te nemen, om te kijken, om te luisteren, om bewust te leven. Bedankt!
"To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, 'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.'" (Luke 7).
What are we to do? Like Mr. Bell, we continue to play in the hope that someone will stop and listen.
Thank you for a wonderful story that will be used here soon.
As a lover of music and a person convinced that we all tend to try to live life in a bubble, I am horrified but not terribly surprised.
Thanks for this wonderful example of how we are all too busy to enjoy the gifts God has given us. It is any wonder that so many feel as though life is terrible when we don't stop to enjoy the things that make life wonderful?
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