Perception, Choices and LifeStyle

My best friend, Shraddha, forwarded this nice piece ...
a very interesting read ... 
 
---------------------------------------------

A man stood at a metro station in Washington DC and started playing 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 a thousand 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 sarted 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 theatre in Boston and the seats average $100.

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 the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing?

-------------------------------------
 
so true ...
 
in the race against time and career survival... we miss out on the beauties of life .. we either ignore them or simply dont realise their momentary but universal existence ..
 
the breath of fresh air, the beauty of the random smile, the little bit of greenery peeping out of the concrete jungle, the rare colours and formations of the morning / evening sky, the aroma of a nice brew and the aroma, taste & texture of good tasty food ..... 
 
we miss out on the little joys of life !!!
 
nice article ... nice experiment ... something for us to ponder ... and possible remember !!
 
keep smiling and have a nice day ...
 
 
 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tongue Twister - V for Vendetta

Gandhi Topi !!