Appreciating Beauty In Our Lives

On a cold winter morning at a subway station in Washington, a man began to play his violin.  During the next 45 minutes he played six musical pieces.  It was during a rush hour and over a thousand people walked past the musician. Out of all the pedestrians, only 6 people stopped and listened.

People did not know that this violinist was Joshua Bell - one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with his Stradivarius violin, worth over $ 3.5 million dollars.  

Two days before the subway performance, his concert sold out in Boston at an average of $100 per ticket. 

This was a ‘social experiment’ prearranged by the Washington Post Newspaper. The goal of Joshua Bell’s incognito recital at a subway station was to observe how people respond to 'beautiful things' in their everyday lives.

The outcome was absolutely shocking. Only .006% of people stopped to appreciate the beauty of the music and the incredible talent of the violinist.

The other 99.994% of people did not find time to stop and listen to the best music ever written, performed by one of the best musicians in the world.

The pace of our culture is so overwhelming and intense that we developed blindness to the world we live in. We no longer hear or see people around us. We lost our ability to recognize Divine Intervention and to appreciate blessings in our lives. 

Perhaps, this is the time to open our eyes and to see the magnificent world around us. After all, recognizing and appreciating our existence is a completely transformational experience.