محمود الزين حامد: حزن وحداد هاديء

Dear Saif, I received a message from a friend. Usually I don't take messages of this kind seriously and delete before reading. But as this one was coming from Laura (a friend from London who spent sometime in Sudan working on her PhD) I decided to go through it. It somehow reminded me of Mahmoud and I wanted to share my thoughts with Laura. Here is the message and my reply: hey Nahla and Mustafa, I got this from a friend and thought of you two. ……. Sending you my love, Laura

THE SITUATION

In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007, this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule. About 4 minutes later: The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to walk. At 6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again. At 10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception - forced their children to move on quickly. At 45 minutes: The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32. After 1 hour: He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one applauded. There was no recognition at all. No one knew this, but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit and listen to him play the same music.
This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities. This experiment raised several questions: *In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? *If so, do we stop to appreciate it? *Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have a moment
to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ever made . . .. How many other things are we missing as we rush through life? End of Laura’s message. …………

Dear Laura, When I received your message I was reading a paper written by my friend Dr. Mahmoud El Zain Hamid and I was thinking how great he was. Mahmoud died of a heart attack last month while teaching a class at the University of Peace in Costa Rica. I knew how great he was but I was rediscovering him after his sudden death.
Mahmoud is just like Joshua, he passed by our world and inspired so many people even those who did not stop to understand better and enjoy. While Mahmoud shared his knowledge with the world, some of us just passed by, or were pushed hard to go in other direction as the parents did to the children in the Metro station. Now Mahmoud's friends and students all over the world are looking for his writings to read again or for the first time as some of those who passed Joshua that day at the Metro station are looking for his records.
Joshua will continue playing his music to an audience welling to spend money and time to enjoy it. Mahmoud's contribution to humanity will be available for those welling to find time to look for it and read it. Thanks Laura, the questions at the end of the message are valid here as well: • In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? • If so, do we stop to appreciate it? • Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?
The beauty of Mahmoud's character and the importance of his contribution was not well perceived in his country and his extra-ordinary talent was not recognized in this context, so he had to go to Costa Rica. We, the friend of Mahmoud, appreciated his knowledge, but maybe we didn't stop enough to know him better.
Mustafa