On November 18, 1995, Itzhak Perlman, the famous musician, came on stage to give a concert. If you have ever been to a Perlman concert, you know that getting on stage is no small achievement (成就) for him. He suffered from a disease as a child, and so he walks with the help of two walking sticks.
The audience (观众) sat quietly while he makes his way across the stage to his chair and begins his play. But this time, something went wrong. Just as he finished the first few bars, one of the strings (弦) on his violin broke. We thought that he would have to stop the concert. But he didn't. Instead, he waited a moment, closed his eyes and then signaled the team to begin again.
Of course, anyone knows that it is impossible to play a pleasant work with just three strings. I know that, and you know that, but that night Itzhak Perlman refused to know that.
When he finished, there was a breathtaking silence in the room. And then people rose and cheered. He smiled and said—not proudly, but in a quiet attitude—“You know, sometimes it is the artist's task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left.”
This powerful line has stayed in my mind ever since I heard it. And who knows? Perhaps that is the meaning of life—not just for artists but for all of us.
So, perhaps our task in this fast changing, puzzling world in which we live is to make music, at first with all that we have, and then, when that is no longer possible, to make music with what we have left.
