What Beauty Are We Missing Because We’re Moving Too Fast?

April 16, 2009

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 thousands 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 a 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
$100.00 each.

This is a real 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 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 some of the best music ever written, how many
other things are we missing?