June 22, 2007 at 5:28 PM
By: Jasmine Reese
Famous author David Halberstam was killed in a car accident April 23rd. A young graduate student of journalism at the University who drove the car made an illegal turn which caused the collision of another in to the side where Halberstam was seated. Halberstam died instantly, a rib punctured his heart, for he never made it to his interview with football legend Y.A. The student will be charged with Vehicular manslaughter.
After reading this sad piece of news, I could not help but meditate over the importance of slowing down. Life may go by pretty fast, but the greatest tragedy would be missing out on the sunrise, a butterfly fluttering in the sky, the sound of the ocean after dark, or the chirp of crickets in a corn field all because we were too busy rushing. And worse sometimes we do not even know why we act like anxious bees.
Applying this same principal to violin playing, I take to heart once again what Clayton Haslop told me about cherishing the journey. Why go on an adventure if you can not enjoy the ride? And of course as professional musicians, we really must be careful as to how we drive, walk, or run to avoid serious injury.
I guess this may seem overcautious to some and uneccessary, but the truth is—would not life be ten times better if we sat down and listened and watched, instead of racing through it to the next point with out taking in the air?
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