Take time to stop & hear the music...

Dan sent out a link to a very interesting article on a human-response experiment done by the Washington Post. It's definitely worth looking at. And it's worth a little personal reflection time... How would I respond? What do I miss because I'm so "busy"?

They placed a very gifted and famous violinist (Joshua Bell) in the L'ENFANT PLAZA STATION in Washington DC, dressed as a street musician, just to see if the busy people hustling and bustling along would notice the greatness of the music they were passing by. Now, I'm not a classical music buff. And I think all street musicians sound incredibly gifted, so I certainly wouldn't fault people for not recognizing that this man was the best of the best. But I wonder why so few people took time to stop and enjoy the music. Maybe Leonard and I appreciate it so much because Lincoln has so few street musicians, but when we are downtown and there happens to be a musician playing, we're quick to stop what we're doing and find a spot to enjoy the music. It's such a treat! But I have to admit, if there were always musicians sitting every couple of blocks (especially with their cases open wanting donations) I think the excitement would wear off and the dollars would run out. It's possible the people of Washington DC couldn't possibly stop to listen to every musician or they would never get to work.

I'm inclined to think this experiment may say a lot more about how we condition ourselves to the familiar than about whether we're too busy to stop and listen. I think it would be interesting to run this same experiment in a place where people haven't had musicians there day in and day out. Would people take more notice? I think they would. We seem to be people who need change. If we hear the same things day after day (or even week after week), we quickly become accustomed to it and it loses that initial appeal. But one of the questions they posed in the article keeps replaying in my mind:

In a banal setting at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?

Do we only notice beauty in the midst of the best of circumstances? Does it have to be in our timing and on our terms? Is it possible to become aware of beauty in the midst of our busyness?

This whole subject has inspired me to enjoy more sunsets, take more notice of the squirrels playing in the park across the street, and most of all appreciate the people God has put in my life day after day. I don't want to take for granted these things that I would miss so much if they weren't here.

I wonder what the people of Washington DC would do if all the music stopped.