Perceiving Excellence as Ordinary in Everyday Life

On a brisk January morning in 2007, a lone violinist set up in the L’Enfant Plaza subway station arcade in Washington, D.C.  The man opened his violin case, placed it on the ground for tips, and began to play.

As commuters flooded the halls and stairwells, melodies from Bach’s “Chaconne” filled the air.  Music echoed off the walls of the station.  Be that as it may, barely anyone noticed.  The crowds hurried past.

One woman glanced briefly, but kept walking.  Another man paused for seconds, just long enough to toss a quarter at the feet of the musician.  A child tugged at her parent’s hands, but the adult pulled her along.

Over 1,000 people streamed by while the violinist performed.  Only six halted more than a minute.  No applause erupted.  No crowd formed.  The music blended with train rumbles and announcements.  Indifference ruled the scene.

After 43 minutes the violinist put his violin back in its case and walked away with  $52.17 in change he collected.

Observers filmed the whole event, which was actually an experiment.  Excellence was hidden in plain sight.  The musician was Grammy award winning violinist Joshua Bell.  He sells out symphony halls with tickets costing hundreds of dollars. And his instrument is a 1713 Stradivarius valued at $3.5 million.  Commuters only saw a street musician.

On Average Everyone Is Ordinary

Society often measures people by status and labels them by their achievements.  Often excellence is overlooked because of this shallow perception.

Take Elon Musk.  He is an innovator famous for his rockets and Telsa Motors.  Compare him to a young man workings in a lumber mill.  The mill job of cutting wood using power equipment is not very glamorous.

Although both rolls appear different, the most basic elements of their lives are the same.  If Musk were to empty is pockets, what would one find:  keys, a wallet, maybe a pocketknife.  Likewise for the young man in the lumber mill.

Both dress routinely.  They pull pants on one leg at a time.  Both eat lunch and need to use the toilet.  On average, routines equalize and the differences fade.

Incidentally, Elon Musk labored in a lumber mill early on.  How many people walked by him thinking he was just another laborer not seeing him for the innovator he has become.

Pope Leo XIII, in his groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum, reminds us that there is honor and dignity in labor.  Work is no curse, but a noble calling.

What so many miss is that everyone bears God’s image.  Genesis 1:27 declares, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God, he created them; male and female he created them”

Perceived as Ordinary

Progress has turned modern wonders into commonplace.  Innovations which may have once amazed people are now boring.

Take Apollo 13.  That mission was the 3rd attempt by humans to land on the moon.  People were already considering the mission routine and changing their television stations to baseball.  It took a disaster to remind them that traveling to the moon and back is not an ordinary occurrence.

Today, life expectancy in the United States reaches 79 years thanks to modern medicine like vaccines and modern nutrition.  In 1776, expectancy hovered at 35 years,  with many not even making it to adulthood.

Modern citizens across the globe enjoy a vast array of food options.  Supermarkets offer pineapples in winter.  Avocados arrive fresh.  An entire aisle in stores is dedicated to affordable spices.  King George III never had such an abundance of luxuries.

In 1776, all nations embraced slavery.  Today, no country legally supports slavery.  Slavery still exists, but it has been driven underground.

Letters from Boston to Kentucky took weeks in 1776.  Riders carried leather bags with the post on horses from way point to way point.  Weather often created delays with the journey lasting 2-4 weeks.  Now people chat in real time across even greater distances via the telephone or online.

As the United States approaches its 250th birthday, what the Funding Fathers would have considered extraordinary are now not just common, but perceived as boring.

Even Christ faces this issue.  In the Gospels, Mark recounts what happened when Jesus returned to Nazareth.  While teaching in the synagogue, Christ faced doubt from the townsfolk whose familiarity with Him blinded them to His divine nature.  The ordinary perception was so strong that, “… he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

Christianity Is Not Ordinary

The same is true for Christianity.  For someone growing up as a cradle Catholic in the United States, Christianity and the societal norms it drives, seems ordinary.

In the United States, the default approach when meeting someone is to believe what they are saying.  Lying is a wrong.  Yes, people do lie, but this is not the default.

In other countries and cultures, lying is the norm.  If everyone knows this the norm, then people can interact because the rules are understood.  If one comes into such a culture believing people are truthful when the norm is lying, one can really be exploited.  I learned this the hard way.

Seeing the Extraordinary

Anyone can uncover the extraordinary in everyday life by shifting perspectives and opening their eyes.

Consider how shoppers encounter cashiers.  Rather than viewing them through a lens of inferiority, we should recognize them as dedicated workers who arrive daily to serve others.  While driving, one might notice painters in rusty trucks with splattered clothes.  Appreciate them as craftsmen refreshing homes and communities.

While at mass, disheveled teens should not be seen as distractions, but as young practitioners beginning their faith journey.  Congregants tempted to judge unwed mothers for past sins might instead view them as seekers drawn toward redemption.

The converse is true as well.  Instead of seeing an elderly man as a worn out curmudgeon, why not reach out to gain hard-earned wisdom.

The extraordinary often hides in plain sight.  The mundane melody heard in the background may be a divine whisper.  The next person one meets may be our Creator disguised as an average Joe waiting for us to recognize His everyday miracles.