Up: [[Accept Reality]] Created: 2023-06-12 Updated: 2024-09-29 Violin virtuoso Joshua Bell performed classical music on his $3.5 million Stradivarius during morning rush hour at a DC subway stop. He posed as a musician playing for donations. This was at the request of the Washington Post newspaper, wanting to answer a really wonderful question — **In a banal setting, at an inconvenient time, would beauty transcend?** The worry was that Bell would be mobbed, but instead 63 people passed by before anyone even paused to listen. After 43 minutes, 1070 people had paid no attention at all, and just 7 actually stopped to listen for at least a minute. Instead of his usual earnings of up to $1000 per minute, Bell made a total of $32.17. Plus $20 from a concertgoer who recognized him. Only two people focused on the music. One was the concertgoer. The other was someone who had studied violin and gave Bell $5. Interview magazine once said that Bell’s playing *does nothing less than tell human beings why they bother to live.* Love that! What a compliment! But how incredibly sad for humanity that the answer to the Post's question is NO. I'm not sitting in judgment. I would have dashed by if I was heading to work, no doubt about it. As I say, sad. Doubly sad because [[Appreciation of Beauty]] is one of my core values. > [!User] Gene Weingarten > Washington Post [Pultizer Prize winning feature article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/pearls-before-breakfast-can-one-of-the-nations-great-musicians-cut-through-the-fog-of-a-dc-rush-hour-lets-find-out/2014/09/23/8a6d46da-4331-11e4-b47c-f5889e061e5f_story.html), 2008