MISSING THE MUSIC

“Ten years ago on a cold, cold, night

Someone was killed ‘neath the town hall light. . .

There were few at the scene but they all agree

That the slayer who ran looked a lot like me.”

So starts an old folk ballad written by Marijohn Wilkin-Danny Dill, titled The Long Black Veil, and powerfully sung many years ago by folk singer and actor Burl Ives. 

The rest of that song (or story) has nothing to do with where I’m going with this, but those lead lyrics do strongly suggest that something good, in our time, is being killed by the digitally (or otherwise) distracted people all around us—and maybe even by ourselves if we are among them.

 

To bring this introduction more into the context of our time consider this real-life parallel. Twelve years ago on a cold, cold, December morning on a Metro subway platform in Washington D.C., a man stood against a wall and played an impromptu solo violin concert.  There were many at this scene (estimated at over 1000 passersby) who heard, but did not hear, in that 45 minutes, what was being offered them free of charge or for a few coins dropped into a hat.

The incognito man unannounced and unidentified at the time was the world-acclaimed concert violinist Joshua Bell playing non-stop, six memorized Bach compositions, among the most intricate violin pieces ever written, on a 3.5 million dollar violin.

 

One reporter wrote of the incident: “Only six people stopped and stayed for a while.  About 20 gave him money, but continued to walk their normal pace.  He collected $32.  When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it.  No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.”

Almost no one even stopped!  They were in too big a hurry or were so distracted that they did not stop to appreciate what was really going on!

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing? 

Do we have “eyes to see and ears to hear?”  Or are we too ….

OUR TIMES and SEASONS

There is an old saying that says there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. The challenge is to determine what season you are in or approaching in your life and how to use the time that will be allotted to you.

As I was contemplating this thought at 5:10 this morning, it came to me that time can be thought of as chunks of opportunity for your discretionary use.  This chunk of opportunity – 5 minutes, or 15, or, if you are fortunate, an hour or more will leave its own legacy depending on what it is directed to.  It can be saved and added upon and recycled in our own or another’s life or it will simply evaporate—it can be wasted.
 

So what did I do?  I got up, put on my pants, and started writing. My little ‘season’ allowed me to do this before the phone started ringing, before people showed up on my doorstep, before the business or doctor’s office opened up, before the birds needed feeding, or even the sun came up.

   

What do you want to do with your time while the season allows it? 

It may have to do with ‘goals.’  For years when I heard anyone mention ‘goals’ I dismissed it immediately because so many goals or resolutions are proposed but so soon shuttled or forgotten.  We seem to get caught in the current of life’s demands and are carried downstream toward some unsought destination that had little to do with our plans, hopes, or dreams.  Why?  Rather than act, we would be acted upon.  Anne Murray’s old song “Time, Don’t Run Out On Me” came to mind. 

Time, unless we act, will run out.

To override the otherwise inexorable inevitability I have found to be a word of wisdom a little gem of thought that was suggested by an old carpenter.  He said, if you want to build a house (or anything, I extrapolated –such as a life) start sawing.  If you want to be loved, start loving.  If you want to be smart, start reading and observing.  If you want friends, be a friend. If you have a winter of discontent, start preparing for a spring of renewal and new beginnings.

Start sawing, walking, running, serving, painting, reading, fasting, singing, working.

Just start. 

THE ONE THING

I recently took an airline flight.  On layovers between legs of the flight the one thing I do [actually one of about four things I always do] is to step into Hudson’s booksellers and see what’s on the new or best-sellers books display.  Last week I stepped in on a two-hour layover and picked up a best-seller titled The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan.  I quickly skimmed the table of contents and speed-read parts of most of the chapters for the 3-4 minutes I could get before the cashier got nervous and started to dust the jackets of the books in the area in which I was standing while surreptitiously eying me to see if I was going to steal something.  Actually I did—I stole the idea for this essay. 

I am interested in being a better person.  I am interested in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Stephen R. Covey).  I am interested in “Be ye therefore perfect …” (Bible, Matthew 5:48) [“perfect” means ‘fully formed, complete’].  I am interested in not “wasting the days of [my] probation” (The Book of Mormon 2 Nephi 9:27).  And yes, I am interested in learning ‘the one thing’ –if there really could be ‘one thing’—that could help me accomplish my highest ambitions and goals.

What I learned in my speed-reading of their book was this: the one thing that people need to get the results they want is to identify their highest priority and then double down and totally focus and concentrate on it and work on it without allowing anything to distract you or derail you during your most productive time of the day (early morning after a good night’s sleep).  Then do it over and over again until it becomes a habit (which takes, they say, an average of 66 days, --not 21 days as we used to be taught). 

To do this we must learn to say ‘no’ to lesser priorities—especially others’ priorities which don’t align with ours.  We must become single-minded to our priority until it is accomplished to the standard we have identified or bought into.  We must be willing to make sacrifices. “If you want your life to sum up to something different, then you need to make additions and subtractions from it.”  If we keep doing what we always have done we will continue always as we are. 

The authors identify, I think, six myths that hold us back [I can remember only five]: 1. Myth—Have a balanced life. They say it won’t get you there. [I would need more convincing on this point although I used to teach it myself: you can’t even walk, let alone run, if you aren’t unbalanced momentarily with every stride.] 2. Myth—Everything matters equally. [I’m in total agreement here.] 3. Myth—You can get more done multi-tasking.  [Ditto no. 2] 4. Myth—A disciplined life is all it takes. 5. Myth—Will power [alone] will get it for you. Myth 6 (I think)—You can make it on your own. [I would agree with this entirely--that is, you can't.]

To build a new habit requires that we completely avoid temptations that derail us. Don’t have that stuff around us.  If we can’t avoid it then move, quit the job, say ‘good bye’ to the erstwhile friend, etc., etc. 

  

I would have liked to have the time to read the rest of the book.  I guess I could have, but at the time I didn’t want to part with the twenty-five bucks to pay for the book. 

Regrets.

 

But I guess that’s what you get when you give in to the temptation to go into a bookstore.