Pearls Before Breakfast

Ever walked into a situation where something truly great was happening, you just missed it?

Here's a fantastic story with some great video to boot. It's an article from the Washington Post, from a great journalist (in my opinion) named Gene Weingarten.

Here's the URL:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html?referrer=emailarticle

Or click this link:

Pearls Before Breakfast

Joshua Bell is one of the world's greatest violinists. His instrument of choice is a multimillion-dollar Stradivarius. If he played it for spare change, incognito, outside a bustling Metro stop in Washington, would anyone notice?

This shook me up. Most people who've seen it comment that it's a shame so many people didn't take notice. I have a different take: I became emotional (cried happy tears, actually) when I saw someone recognize that what they were hearing was something special. A child cranes her head repeatedly, A man stops, bewildered and walks around aimlessly, then drops some change in the case, embarrassed. That stuff just messes me up, in the best way. The reason? I think that I'm surrounded by beauty most of the time, I just don't see it. It doesn't have to be a brilliant piece of music bya brilliant musician, I've had similar experiences by noticing wind through trees in a forest. I was 12 or so, and I remember it well, as though it was yesterday. I think that beauty is God's fingerprint on the world; His signature that reads "You are fearfully and wonderfully made, made in My image, and this gift is for you." When I do notice, it's often like I've been living life in an old black and white T.V, and suddenly stepped out to Blue Ray. I connect to God on a very deep level. You know, it's like that saying: "Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present." Just my take. Wow, I wish I was this enlightened more often. :)