The Washington Post recently ran an article with video depicting Joshua Bell, a violin virtuoso, playing in a Washington D.C. metro stop during morning rush hour. The article notes that of approximately 1000 people to walk by the violinist, less than a dozen even seemed to notice.
If I still lived in D.C. and I came across the performance, would I stop? Probably not considering that it was in the morning and I would probably be late.
The article points out how people in Europe or Brazil would stop to take in the world-class entertainment, but what does that say? That the foreigners have more lenient bosses? That they have higher job security? Although we all may like to “stop and smell the roses” on the way to work, the world in which we live often does not allow such leniences.
If the violinist played in the evening during the homeward commute, I posit that the reception would be much warmer.