Children Crashing Cars

Or "What's New is New"

My highlight of the week? The story of the six year old boy who missed his school bus. Instead of staying home and watching cartoons all day, he decided to take the keys to his parent’s Ford Taurus and drive to school. He made it most of the way, passing several cars on the street, until he finally crashed into a utility pole. At that point, he got out of the car and started walking to school. When asked later why he did it, he said that he did not want to miss breakfast or PE at school. Man! What kind of breakfast do they serve at his school! But seriously folks, I do really admire his determination and passion. I don’t think there was anything I was that passionate about as a six year old. I wouldn’t risk anything that crazy when I was six. My heart was already hardened and frozen by that age and it was nothing but tough living ever since. It was just Fozzie and I against that cold heartless world. A world where Seasame Street was filled with needles and bums and strangers who didn’t give a squat.

Okay, maybe that’s a little melodramatic, but that point is, I admire and want to emulate his passion this year. Last year, for me, was all about the people connection. Making the world smaller, creating connections, finding ways to get involved. (Or as Will says,“ Petting puppies, smiling at babies, planting trees, saving the whales, or whatever freaking charity you’re doing this week honey”.)

I think the goals this year for my resolutions are more internal. I want to learn more about the world and really try to discover things I don’t know that much about, or as I call it ‘what’s new is new’. There are so many things in the world that I really haven’t taken the time to admire yet, and I am sure there a billion things that exist that I haven’t even imagined yet. I want to fill my brain with so much ridiculous new information that by the end of the year, my entire viewpoint of the world will change. Still the same me, of course, just with different eyes.

One of the first items on my list of discovery, is classical music. I know absolutely nothing about classical music. I don’t know if I was just asleep in class, or maybe I was just sick that week we learned about it, but I really haven’t the foggiest notion of what it all means. So many people dedicate their lives and talents to the studying and playing of classical music, and I can’t even muster a couple of sentences about it. There are people that DIED for the sake of classical music and ruined their lives and the most recognizable piece for me is the Charlie Brown theme song. My hope is that by the end of the year, I can hear just two notes and say “Oh isn’t that the concerto, Summer Bees in the Park, played in the note of G, written by Watersford Richelhiemersomnd.?”. Or, at the very least, maybe just gain a better understanding and appreciation and find out what all the fuss is about.

I mentioned this quest to a recently made friend of mine. I have probably only seen this person a handful of times but I knew they had mentioned classical music as something they had an appreciation for. I was surprised when I ran in to them, by chance, a couple of days later and the first words out of their mouth was, “ I have something for you. One moment, it’s in my car.”

I looked at Paul and made a face of uncertainty. He returned carrying a hardbound book. He handed it to me and I looked it over. It was heavy and I thumbed through the pages. It had biographies of composers, timelines of classical music history, glossaries of terms and instruments. It also had eight cd’s that contained music from the whole gamut of classical treasures. It was a starting point from an unexpected source.

“This is very sweet and kind.” I said, surprisingly moved. I barely knew this person and definitely did not see this coming.

“It is actually very selfish of me.” he said.

“How so?” I asked looking up from the book.

“Well, when I was young my parents had me take piano lessons. I feel in love with classical music. I would play it on the radio whenever I got the chance and spend hours listening. I would wait for Philharmonic concerts to come on and then I would turn up the radio dial in the house . My parents and brother would give me strange looks and then just change the channel on the radio. It is has been very far and few between during my lifetime that I meet anybody who really sees and feels the beauty of the music. If I meet anyone who ever expresses even the slightest of interest, then I want to support that.”

During the next two hours he shared his passion for the music. He told stories about composers and anecdotes about their lives as if he had been there when it happened. He sang several bars of his favorite songs and discussed how women never get enough credit in classical music. Normally if someone talked about something for two hours, I would have slit my wrists already and would have been long gone. This time, however, it was charming. The book wasn’t really his real gift that night, it was his passion and excitement. I would even go as far as to say that it was noteworthy.