10.10.10

I've been looking forward to October 10th every year for the past 9 years. It seems pretty silly when I think about why.... and that I've been putting so much on this one day for almost a decade. Still, I think I was really hoping for something different today. However, I am ending this night thinking about all the many blessings I do have in my life. Maybe today wasn't anything extraordinary, but I still have a lot of amazing things going on and amazing people in my life. Maybe I there is nothing special about this date. Maybe it's just suppose to serve as a reminder that life is full of beautiful and memorable moments, we just need to take the time to savor them.

Here's an awesome post that my friend Mary showed me tonight. Same message (savor each moment). It's a pretty awesome story. Enjoy.
This is so enlightening.

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Washington Post Experiment In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.
After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.

About 4 minutes later:
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk.

At 6 minutes:
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

At 10 minutes:
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly.

At 45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.

After 1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all.

No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.

Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by Gene Weingarten from the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people’s priorities. Weingarten won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing for his article on the experiment.

This experiment raised several questions:
*In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty?
*If so, do we stop to appreciate it?
*Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?

One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:
If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made … How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?

you can catch the video here
and the Washington Post article here