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Feb. 8th, 2009 10:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmI was riding home on the subway just now percolating on what I think tomrrow's LJ Idol topic will be and what I'll write for it, as I'll need to do that before I leave for Los Angeles, when a man got on with an electric saxaphone and started to play Amazing Grace.
I am not sure why, really, perhaps it was that the first note was so tentative, or his presentation of it was so slow, but it took maybe fifteen, twenty seconds for anyone to notice he was playing at all, and then the whole car went silent.
The woman across from me caught my eye, and then wiped tears from hers. Two teen boys with Nintendo DS'es paused and exchanged a glance with each other, one shrugging, when the awkwardness became apparent. The man next to me, reading the Koran, closed it to listen, and in a moment when I looked around the car, it seemed I was the only one with my eyes open at all. I struggled, not to sing along.
When the man was done, two stops later, he walked up and down the length of the car twice, slowly, hitting his hands against the metal polls. He did not ask for money and I wondered if we were supposed to offer, or if he would, in a minute, begin to prosyletize. He looked like he had been crying.
He put the electric sax back into his wheely napsack and went on to the next car. A few seconds later, conversation errupted, the woman across from me got off at her stop, the guy next to me went back to his Koran, and I wondered how quick the memory of the thing was going to slip away rom eveyone who had been there, and how much of a fluke it was, or if it would happen, in turn, to each car as the man made his rounds.
Most of the time, most of us spend our lives in the prsence of people with no idea how much power they have. Sometimes though, we merely spend it in the presence of folk with no idea what to do with it.
Or perhaps he did know.
And we simply didn't.
I am not sure why, really, perhaps it was that the first note was so tentative, or his presentation of it was so slow, but it took maybe fifteen, twenty seconds for anyone to notice he was playing at all, and then the whole car went silent.
The woman across from me caught my eye, and then wiped tears from hers. Two teen boys with Nintendo DS'es paused and exchanged a glance with each other, one shrugging, when the awkwardness became apparent. The man next to me, reading the Koran, closed it to listen, and in a moment when I looked around the car, it seemed I was the only one with my eyes open at all. I struggled, not to sing along.
When the man was done, two stops later, he walked up and down the length of the car twice, slowly, hitting his hands against the metal polls. He did not ask for money and I wondered if we were supposed to offer, or if he would, in a minute, begin to prosyletize. He looked like he had been crying.
He put the electric sax back into his wheely napsack and went on to the next car. A few seconds later, conversation errupted, the woman across from me got off at her stop, the guy next to me went back to his Koran, and I wondered how quick the memory of the thing was going to slip away rom eveyone who had been there, and how much of a fluke it was, or if it would happen, in turn, to each car as the man made his rounds.
Most of the time, most of us spend our lives in the prsence of people with no idea how much power they have. Sometimes though, we merely spend it in the presence of folk with no idea what to do with it.
Or perhaps he did know.
And we simply didn't.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 04:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 04:07 am (UTC)That type of moment is so touching, and so rare, and I hope that everyone took it home with them and hangs onto it. At least for a little while longer.
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Date: 2009-02-09 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 04:07 am (UTC)Then the woman broke into a gospel-sounding tune - not one I recognized, and not sung expertly, but beautiful nonetheless. The sound followed me as I continued down Market Street. I looked up at Liberty Place; the sound of her singing echoed off the buildings around me.
It was as if the soul of the city itself was singing.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 04:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 05:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 02:47 pm (UTC)And now I will have Amazing Grace in my head all day, for which I (sincerely) thank you.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 03:15 pm (UTC)It's one of the few hymns that manages to not mention God or Jesus, and emphasizes the person singing it. "Grace," I feel, can be whatever you want it to be.
Also, it's a beautiful hymn.
Historical note.
Date: 2009-02-10 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 07:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 07:39 pm (UTC)He had been on the phone with his sister and made an offhand remark about how he didn't want to get divorced over money. I chirped, "I'm only divorcing him for Owen Wilson!" His sister made a response to that and he laughed.
I later asked him what she said, which was, "Why? He's just going to try to kill himself anyways." This led to a conversation about how could he be so unhappy when he has a lot of money.
I don't know if riches has anything to do with it. Who knows? Somebody like him might very well look at my situation and think, "She has someone who loves her very deeply and a handsome child who is good natured and kind. Money can't buy that."
I have no idea how to finish off this comment. It seems my siblings are right: a messy house is distracting.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-09 08:01 pm (UTC)Or perhaps he did know. And we simply didn't.
Date: 2009-02-10 04:00 am (UTC)Thank you.
Date: 2009-02-10 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-10 08:38 pm (UTC)Random thing you might like: Garmarna's take on the Hildegard von Bingen chants. Whole album for DL on my server:
http://www.rahalia.net/music/garmana_hvb/
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Date: 2009-02-11 11:58 am (UTC)