Re: Re: Re: Please Indulge Me (***LONG***)


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Posted by Rick Denney on November 23, 2001 at 15:47:16:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Please Indulge Me (***LONG***) posted by Dave on November 22, 2001 at 01:02:45:

Whether or not one makes a big difference in the world, and whether or not they realize it, are two different things. You, in fact, may have made a much bigger difference in many lives than you are willing from present perspective to admit. I believe it's also true of me. But many are motivated not by being a nameless servant, but by attaining the glory of accomplishment. At some point, we realize glory is empty. This is a devastating realization to some, and not to others. I'm now in the latter group, but I had to choose to be there.

But I refute the notion that music is unimportant from the post-attack perspective. I'm reminded of the story "The Lord of the Rings," by Tolkein, when the lowly hobbit, Pippin thought his jokes and songs would be inappropriate for the company of a great ruler. The ruler's response was that in times of terror and strife, music and jokes were more important than ever, to remind us of why the evil is bad and why we sacrifice to fight it. Tolkein wrote this story in England, during WWII, and from the persective on one who lost every one but one of his close friends in WWI.

I have listened to musical performance all my life. Each time, I go away a better person for having done so. But that doesn't mean the effect that it has on me is expressed back to the musicians by any other means than my purchase of a ticket. Part of growing up is realizing that we will not be thanked in person for the work that we do, and in fact may be put down for one reason or another for doing it, but that real people will still benefit even if we never see them up close.

The work that I have done as a traffic engineer has benefitted thousands and thousands of people, who got to where they were going a little sooner and safer because of it. But I never hear from them; I hear from the loudmouths and their politicians to whom I've refused a request because it would damage the quality of life for the nameless many. I left the public sector just to stop people from yelling at me. Even so, I still know that real people are better off because I was willing to bear the brunt of that abuse.

So, music teachers beget music teachers, who beget music teachers, ad infinitum, training musicians to play unpopular music to an ungrateful public. Sound familiar? But look up into the balcony, where the seats are cheap, and you'll find people there because they love that music. They'll be sitting on the edge of these seats, trying no to bother their neighbors as they fight the temptation to tap the rhythm or hum along. The jaded "union" musicians laugh at their naivete, and they really should find something else to do. Those folks who train for a music job, and end up doing something else, will still bestow their music as amateurs in ways that will beautify their world. Even if their individual impact is small, it all adds up. Those who give it up because they can't live without the glory are the real losers.

The Bible says that if we work for our own glory, our own glory will be our only reward.

Not everyone can find a linguistics job in the intelligence field, or even a job fighting fires or helping the injured. There is still a need for people who make the world more beautiful, and more worth saving, who reflect some of God's creativity in a dark place. Sometimes the beauty is there for its own sake, as art or music, and sometimes it's no more than a lack of ugliness, helped along by the fellow who picks up the garbage or repairs the sewers (or times the traffic signals).

Rick "consciously avoiding cynicism" Denney


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