Saturday, January 31, 2009

A slap to my compos mentis...




HE VIOLINIST: a true story

A man was playing the violin at a subway station in Washington DC one cold winter morning at rush hour he was playing complex bach pieces as people rushed about ignoring him. A middle aged man stopped for a few second then hurried along to his appointment. A woman tossed a dollar into his violin case without stopping and walked quickly away. Another man stopped, listening intently he leaned against the wall then looked at his watch and walked quickly on his way. A three year old boy came next, he stayed the longest, enthralled by the music but his mother dragged him away and he resisted but lost in the end. The same thing happened to three other kids, clinging in vain to their independence. Their lives were controlled by parents who had no time. 

In the 45 minutes the violinist played, only six people stopped to listen for a while, four children were dragged by their mothers, twenty gave money, then walked away quickly. He collected $32 in all. When he finished playing, there was a deafening silence, the rush hour had ended and no one noticed him, no one applauded. He walked away, feeling happy. No one knew he was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world playing one of the most intricate pieces with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars! Two days before his subway concert, he performed at a Boston Theater where seats averaged $100 each and the tickets were all sold out. Joshua Bell playing incognito in a subway station was organized by the washington post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and priorities of people. 

One conclusion was - at the ʽwrongʼ place at the ʽwrongʼ time beauty is unseen, we are blinded by tasks the same beauty that awes a crowd grappling for a seat and paying a fortune. How many times do we fail to see what children see so clearly because we have too many promises to keep, then we regain our vision back momentarily at the ʽrightʼ place at the ʽrightʼ time. What is right and wrong are mere perceptions, the heart is often controlled by circumstance. Spaghetti at a street joint can taste better than at a five star place but we do not know it we become blind when the mind takes over the heart.



...as always, we are blinded with our own mind that prevent us to see the truth and beauty of life...





12 comments:

丽 娜 said...

true

Inah said...

wonderful story :)

and its true enough..life is so colourful but we only see what we want to see :)

Enche' Adykasyah said...

Hye Sir, long time no see your blog. Nice pic here la..

[danial][ma] said...

hej! lynawan...so, let's open our mind...;-)

[danial][ma] said...

hej! inah...yeah, we always choose only our favourite colours...;-)

[danial][ma] said...

hej! enche' adykasyah...howdy mate!

mazddaud said...

well said!!...;-)

Unknown said...

yup2

i agree

mcm knp mknan western kat william lagi sedap dari sesetengah hotel :p

[danial][ma] said...

hej! mazddaud...something good that we learn one or two...;-)

[danial][ma] said...

hej! budlee...yeah, and some more if someone belanja too...hehehehehe...;-)

Faisal Admar said...

at first i masuk here, i thought i was in other person's blog. i put shades on me and now i know you changed the layout. lol.

this is such a beautiful story pal. i like it a lot.

most people don't see that i'm very talented and smart because i'm not in the right place... i know... i know..!!

[danial][ma] said...

hej! faisal...hahahaha...it's winter, and it should be white! hhhmmm...i guess you should find the right place sooner if not you will vanish forever...hehehehee...

Snow Effect