Would you have stopped, if you knew it was Joshua Bell?

Wow. The Washington Post has conducted an amazing social experiment on whether people recognize beauty their daily lives.

So, the question becomes: Would you have stopped, if you knew it was Joshua Bell? I'd like to think I would have. I think I've always expressed such a tendency. Heck, I often wanted to stop when the Hare Krishnas were on Franklin Street chanting, because it was so different from the hustle and bustle, because the sounds they were making were so completely different from those of everyone and everything else on the road.

I swooned over almost every street musician in Paris. How cool! (Yep, I'm not much of a city girl, but I'm thrilled that anyone wants to share any talent with me.) I ought to carry my camera with me everywhere, because I'm often accosted by something that strikes me as beautiful. These past couple of days, it's been the stark outline of Centerpointe, the new high rise condos being built in Greensboro, stripped to its steel beams against the distant horizon.

I stop to watch squirrels, birds, or the reflection of sunlight dance on a city street. I've actually noticed how beautiful the respective downtowns of Greensboro and Winston-Salem are during the holidays. I spent several minutes today awed by the fact that I have a beautiful back yard, and yet, I see it every day.

Yep, I think I would have stopped. I don't think that I would have been able to stay the entire time (really, there is the rest of my life to live), but I'd like to think that I would have stayed for a couple of sips of the Buck o'Stars, at least.

So, would you have stopped?

Do you stop for such now?