This was an email sent to me today that I found very interesting, I’ll let you read it…and if you have the time, you can watch the video. It was part of a social experiment done by the Washington Post and the article was written by Gene Weingarten.
“It’s the Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After three minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
Four minutes later:
the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.
Six minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
Ten minutes:
A three-year-old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as 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. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.
Forty five 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.
One hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor
was there any recognition.
No one knew that 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 Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $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 people’s priorities. The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment 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 finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments …
How many other things are we missing?”
So after reading all of that article and watching the video; and after playing twice on the streets of London this past weekend, seeing all the people walking by… I’m caused to think about how many people are missing out on, not just beauty and talent or music, but the very reason we’re alive.
The one who made beauty, and who is the embodiment of it. The questions raised in the writers mind are quite valid. And it’s amazing how similar the Biblical accounts of Jesus, who is God incarnate come to earth, really are to the account you just read. He came into the World at an “odd” time, and was born in an “obscure” place…and even given the historicity of the Bible and it’s infallible claims, and given the masses that witnessed His miracles and resurrection, we still find it hard to stop, and to look at Him. To take a long look at Christ. Jesus told us in John 3:14 that just as Moses lifted up the snake, He would be lifted up, and that anyone who believed in Him wouldn’t be damned…but accepted into Heaven as sons and daughters of God. And what’s crazy is that this amzing information is for all of mankind…the whole earth can bank on that promise! (see John 12:32)
That, to me, is a whole lot better of a deal than a free concert by an amazing musician. I propose a different, but similar, question: In a common place World, do you and I stop to see, and know, a very uncommon savior?
