Pearls Before Breakfast: Joshua Bell on the Subway

Before I read this article, I had no idea who Joshua Bell was. I still can't say that I would listen to his music, I'm not a big classical fan. So it really didn't surprise me that he only got a little acknowledgement for his performance in the train station. I've seen performers in Boston while taking the train before, and I pay them little attention myself. The only time I have ever really stopped to listen to them is when they are playing on the platform I'm on and the train is late. I have never given them any money and really, the thought didn't cross my mind. I think that as a culture, we are on such a time crunch all the time and we are always rushing too much. This article gave plenty of examples proving it; even the one man that did stop to listen only had three minutes to do so before he had to rush off. For a world class musician to go unnoticed and unappreciated is kind of sad, but I think it says more about our culture than it does of his playing. We just don't have time to enjoy something like that unless we have planned ahead of time to do so.