Beauty

I love soccer...

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My friend Paul got this video the other day from a friend of his (of which I have forgotten his name, sorry about that).

Part of what makes soccer the "beautiful game" is the amount of creativity that comes with each play and player. There is no play book and each person has the ability at any moment to contribute to the flow and shape of the game. That creative outlet is not wasted at any point in the game, even after a goal is scored...

Standing in rainbows

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On Kauai there are rainbows all the time. I am not kidding on this. It seems like every hour you can see one. I see double rainbows each time I am there at least two or three times. It is quite remarkable how much color is in Hawaii, then you add the rainbows and it really it a Divine color wheel.

My wife, brother-in-law and I were standing on a dock on night and we looked out and we could see a point on the beach in which a rainbow 'touched' the earth. It was the closest I have been to a massive rainbow like that. We decided to see if we could walk through the end of the rainbow. So we hurried down there and walked through it. And you know the color was just - lame. In fact when we got in the end of the rainbow, and walked into the color, we could not see any more of the color. We kept walking thinking that we needed to walk a little more and then we would turn around to see we already walked through it.

We walked through a rainbow and we did not even notice it.

I wonder how many times in our lives we walk though beauty and do not even see it for whatever reason...

Saw this in the news and then got it on an email, I am sure you did too.

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Washington, DC Metro Station on a cold January morning. A man with a violin plays six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approximately two thousand people passed through the station, most of them on their way to work. After three minutes a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

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

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

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 all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced their children to move on quickly.

45 minutes:
The musician played continuously. Only six 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.

1 hour:
He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

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 valued at $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the price of seats averaged $100.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. The questions raised: In a commonplace environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? 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....what else are we missing?