“All babies are born with the knowledge of poetry, because the lub-dub of the mother’s heart is in iambic meter. Then, life slowly begins to choke the poetry out of us.”—Billy Collins, from the Washington Post article below
On January 12, “one of finest classical musicians in the world” played “some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made” at the top of the L’Enfant Plaza metro escalator in Washington D.C.
The Washington Post ran the experiment to watch how morning commuters would respond to beauty in an unexpected place. Would they recognize Josh Bell, the world-renown violinist, winner of the Avery Fisher prize, and thousand-dollar-a seat musician? In the midst of coffee and papers and cell phones and morning-meeting rushing, would the context mute the music?
I first heard this story today on NPR, which profiled Josh Bell based on the article in the Washington Post. I then read the Post story. The article…and its outcome…paint a vivid picture. During the 43 minutes Josh Bell played, 1,097 people passed by. Seven people stopped. The rest hurried by.
I can’t blame them. I’ve been to L’Enfant Plaza. If there’s one tidbit to remember about D.C., it’s is: you do NOT want to impede the flow of traffic getting on or off the metro. You will be squashed by a mid-level bureaucrat.
Sadly, but honestly, I admit that I would be among the 1,090. The article incites reflection, however. The video clips, especially, are worth considering.
What would you have done?
EC
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1 comment:
You are 100% correct - you do not want to get in the way. I learned quickly when I was in DC that it's stand on the right, walk on the left on the escalators. If you don't follow the rule, someone will remind you.
What would be an interesting corollary experiment would be seeing how many bosses would buy the excuse for tardiness - "a world-class violinist was playing in L'Enfant Plaza, and I had to stop and listen."
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