Flashback Friday

Sunday, 22 April 2007

Too busy?

If anyone saw me or talked to me on the phone about a week ago, you probably got an earful about an amazing article in the Washington Post. The short version is: The Washington Post asked Joshua Bell, a famous violinist, to do an experiment to see if beauty, greatness in fact, would win out in the midst people's busy schedules. To really appreciate what happened, you will need to listen to Joshua Bell (and if you are like me, will open his website often just to hear the music) and then read the Washington Post article. I can't begin to explain all that happened, so just take the time and read the article. It's totally amazing.

Okay, if you have read the article, what would you have done? I would like to be able to say I would have stopped to listen. I would...really. A musician friend, Fred McKinnon, says he's 99.9% sure he would have stopped...and he probably would have. But I had to ask myself, would I have been too busy to stop even if I had recognized the greatness? I know I would have heard the beauty, but I don't know that I would have had enough "margin" in my morning to have the liberty to linger in the subway station. I admit it...the Eades are usually running a pretty tight schedule. So I have to ask myself, what am I missing in the midst of my business? Would I find more beauty in life if I didn't schedule my days down to the minute? If didn't wait until the last moment to head out the door to barely make the next event on time, would I have time to stop and gaze at the painted buntings in our bird feeder or admire the flowers blooming in the yard?

I'm afraid we are more like the people in the subway station than I would like to admit.

Thanks to the Washington Post for making me think. I have a few more ideas stirring about their "experiment", but I'd best save those for another time.