Quartet

By a series of coincidences and luck, I acquired tickets to the string quartet playing at Staller yesterday. I was supposed to be driving senior citizen alumni to the show, they felt ill and gave me their tickets! Other than local orchestras that we went to see as elementary children, this was my first formal show.

Filtering into the audience was mostly the older generation. Prominent men and women between the ages of 65 and 90 paraded their fur, leather and designer outfits as they shuffled to their seats.

With me, i brought my friend Hajime. I played tuba and trumpet in my hs band, and he grew up playing a little violin. We snuck into the back of the audience, the youngest of the crowd and the lights dimmed. Perfect silence evaporated the light murmurs. The musicians took stage and phenomeial music poured out of their instruments.

Between movements, with a small break, the elderly stood stone still. Hajime and I couldn't hold back our enjoyment, remarks and questions. Sitting for an hour before the intermission, I struggled to control my thoughts.

I am so accustomed to constant contact, the ability to express myself in a variety of forms as soon as something happens. I believe with the influence of current need to communicate, our generation struggles with emotional detachment to the physical world. The virtual world comforts me that someone is always there. My phone is always on and facebook always up.

During the breaks, the elderly were utterly silent. They kept their thoughts to themselves. Held them to their rides home and small talks after the performance. Is this generation better off with attachment to themselves or the obsession to a continuous reliance of a network of 'friends'