Here is a thing that happend to me that I sometimes think of at times like this - no, I will not be explaining what exact kind of time as it is not relevant. This thing happened many years ago. I was broke. Boy, was I broke. I barely had money to get drunk and doing that felt like a priority at that time. Not the best of times.
It was winter, just coming up on Christmas. I think it must have been a Sunday. I'm sure it was. It was raining and I walked into a Subway in town and there was a guy playing guitar not half badly and people were busy and passing by and ignoring him though it was dry in the subway and they had just come from the rain and had nothing to rush for but to get wet some more.
I suspect that the pubs were closed; sunday, that kind of time and place. Not sure. Anyway, he had no audience and I had an idea and time to act on it, so I stopped and put my back to the wall opposite the guy playing gutitar. I deliberately placed myself as an audience. I had no money to toss into his hat. Maybe enough for a beer, but he wasn't that good... who is?
Still, a funny thing happened - one I anticipated but still it was extraordinary to watch - as a one man determined audience became a pauser and a hesitater and a listener or two and then more as a crowd slowly built. A woman and her daugher danced up and down in front of the guitar player and I smiled at the musician and he sang on and I left it there.... I left it knowing something good. Knowing that I did that. It still makes me smile.
You can make a difference. Not much, 'tis true, but not nothing either. When I arrived there was a guy playing guitar for a buck and being ignored, when I left there was joy and smiles and pleasure. It still makes me smile - but the clarity of these memories fade if played to often, so I do not remember this with any frequence. Only at times like these.
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