Friday 13 April 2007

Would you stop and watched if Jay Chou performed in Orchard MRT walkway?


There was a story(World-class violinist plays for hours in a subway station, almost no one stops to listen) in the Washington Post a few days back that sort of showed our human perceptions.

At first impression, you might have thought you would definitely stop and listen. But in reality, we won't. Its kinda scary actually. Apparently it is one of the most commented article in the news. Why? You might ask.

I think because, it bothers us. In life, Singapore and most metropolis city especially, we're so overwhelmed by our surroundings, the noise and all, that we filter out so much! To a sense, we're sort of lost in our own world.

If you look deeper at that, being closed to the world, can cause us to become less caring of others. More of 'self' than 'world'. We become so entrapped by ourselves that we forget to smell the roses.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies


To me, its a little like a reminder. Be conscious.

What do you think?

2 comments:

Benjamin Koe said...

That is an interesting thought. My guess is that Singaporeans will ignore Jay Chou even if he performed at like any other busker in the walkway. But then again, to be fair, the reason you're in the walk way is to...walk. But if he was performing on a stage at a dead end, I guess I would stop just to check it out.

Anonymous said...

Haha yeah..what a good point indeed. I would feel that our isolation may have caused us to dwell too much into our own problems. At the same time, we just miss the beautiful things in life.