- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
I will never be more than a recreational runner. I can maybe do 3 miles in 30 minutes if I don't get distracted by the poor selections of my iPod's shuffling. So I am entirely unqualified to talk about running, I suppose.
But I am a top-notch musician in top-notch ensembles at one of the best music schools in the country. As much as I may patronize community orchestras that have difficulty pulling together a Strauss waltz or Finlandia, as much as I may cringe when I have to listen to a mediocre high school band butcher the latest Eric Whitacre transcription, I would never, ever suggest that people doing what they love... even if they aren't great at it, and even if they might be technically dragging the average down for the Josh Bells and Yo-Yo Mas of the world... I would never, ever begrudge them the opportunity to do what they're doing.
Not everyone in this world is cut out to be more than an amateur. But the contempt we often treat amateurs with is alarmingly meanspirited. Especially when you consider that most professionals and others of the so-called "elite" in almost any field were once amateurs or nurtured by them.
