“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?
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