I have a little confession to make. When I was a university student, I was a music major. I tried hard to play by the rules and do what was expected of me. I believed this was the way to succeed. Then, during my second year, some of my fellow music majors decided to put on a rather impromptu concert of pieces they had composed. It was to be held in one of the concert halls on campus. One of them asked me if I would perform a piece with her. I said yes, but I was confused. Was this concert being put on by the Theory & Composition Department? If not, who was behind this concert? We are, my fellow student musicians replied. I still didnt understand. But who in the college is behind this? I asked. Which department? No department, they said. But why are we doing this concert? I asked. What I meant was, what it to fulfill a course requirement or someones graduation requirement or something? Was it part of a music series? What was the context of this performance? Because were musicians, silly! they answered. The concert was free, so who was sponsoring the concert? It turned out that nobody was sponsoring the concert. The musicians were playing for free and attendance was free. They had even found technicians to do the sound and lighting for free. It all began over a few beers. One of the students commented that some nights, the concert halls sat empty. Then they had the idea to book one of the halls to put on a free concert. After all, the hall was empty and not generating revenue anyway. They approached the office in charge of booking the halls, and simply asked if they could have the room for free. They booked it two weeks in advance, then distributed a flurry of flyers around campus, got it announced on the campus radio station, told all their friends to tell all of their friends, and they ended up with a full house. I never forgot the lesson I learned from this. If youve read some of my other articles or my ebook, you know that I freely admit that I started out in a pretty clueless state. It wasnt that these kids decided to put on a concert that impressed me. If they would have set up at the park or somewhere free, that would have made sense. What impressed me was that they had that audacity and the courage to hold their concert in a venue of such authority. Until that night, performances in that venue came about because some Higher Authority brought them about. It wasnt our place to cause concerts to occur. Sure, we could attend them and even participate in them, but we didnt originate them. Or so I thought. Who did these kids think they were, anyway, that they could decide to do this? The lesson is that great things dont have to be initiated by some Other. We dont have to wait until someone in authority causes something to occur. We dont have to wish that the government, the city, the administration, the boss, the teachers, and so on would make certain things occur. We can initiate them ourselves. Instead of saying Someone should do something about this litter by the creek, start a Saturday cleanup program in the neighborhood. Instead of saying They should hold free concerts in the park, call up the Parks administration office with your proposal. Any time you have an idea about what they should do, ask if its something you should do. Who do you think you are, anyway? You just might be someone with a great idea! |
