The Cellist of Sarajevo
Do Wars break out every day?
Conflicts occur all the time
in Middle East.
After the coercion, what is left?
Who Wins?
Who benefits?
Who suffers the
most?
What did they do for their fellow civilians?
The music began, stealing into the hushed
hall and creating a shadowy, empty universe.
Slowly the music grew into an agonized,
screaming, and slashing furor, gripping us all
before subsiding into a hollow death rattle
and, eventually, back to silence.
It was as though we had just witnessed that
horrifying massacre ourselves.
Not A Bug Splat
The youngest girl
ever to receive the
Nobel Peace Prize
(Oct. 10, 2013)
Vedran Smailovic, dressed in
a stained, tattered leather
motorcycle jacket
Yo-Yo Ma, an elegant
cellist of classical music,
flawless in appearance
and performance
Smailovic and Ma threw their arms around each other
in an embrace. Everyone in the hall erupted in chaotic,
emotional excitement—clapping, shouting, and cheering.
These two men hugged and cried unashamedly.
[His wild, long hair]s, as well as a huge beard and
mustached [framed]v a face that looked old beyond his
years, (and the face was)分詞構句 soaked with tears and
(was) lined with pain. Now that we had encountered this
man, who had shaken his cello like a fist in the face of
bombs, ruins, and death, we were all stripped down to
our deepest humanity. Without a doubt, his cello was the
mightiest weapon of all.
It was then that I realized that music is a gift we all
share equally. Whether we created it or simply listen to
it, it’s a gift that can soothe, inspire, and unite us,
especially when we need it most—and expect it least.