Recital Kids Have R.E.M.

There's something about attending the senior recital of a Rhodes Scholar that makes you feel so unaccomplished in life.

Having spent the previous five days in Durham and Chapel Hill, NC playing golf, drinking gallons of sweet tea, and enjoying the gorgeous spring weather, on Sunday I accompanied my friend to the Nelson Music Room at Duke University for the senior violin recital of her friend.

A wise man once said, "if a colleague is a late for a meeting it gives you time to reflect on his shortcomings; if the same colleague is late for a second meeting, it gives you time to reflect on your own."

Somewhere between the first and second movement of Bazzini's La Ronde des Lutins, I realized that I had not sucked all of the marrow out of life. I began reflecting on all the wasted hours of my youth playing video games when I could have spent the time learning an instrument. Clarinet. Cello. Piano. Whatever. Something to call a talent other than taking the Sharks to the Cup in NHL '94. Slouching in my second row chair I progressed through the three stages of recital envy:

Stage 1: Self-Doubt - "I'm not good at anything."

Stage 2: Blame - "I'm not good at anything and it's your fault, Dad, for not putting a violin in my hands at 18 months."

Stage 3: Competition - "You know, I bet I can parallel park better than him."

The longer I listened and watched Rahul play the violin, the more I was in awe of how he, the violin, and the music seemed to move as one. The beautiful rhythm registered through his rapid eye movements. Passion that intense is a rare sight to behold. Rarer still is a Rhodes Scholar who can parallel park.