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. Several other children repeated this
action. 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.
Do we perceive
beauty?
Do we stop to
appreciate it?
Do we recognize
the talent in an unexpected context?
How many other
things are we missing?