Patience and Kindness as Time and Space

There is a story that Malcomb Gladwell recounts in his book Tipping Point about seminary students preparing to give a talk on the Good Samaritan story. Researchers had placed someone in apparent need of help on the path between where the students were preparing their presentations and where they were to give their talk. If they were told just before they left that they were late and that the audience was expecting them a few minutes ago, very few of them stopped to help. On the other hand, if they were told that the audience wasn’t quite expecting them just yet, most of them did stop to help. The words “Oh, you’re late.” had the effect of making someone who was ordinarily compassionate into someone who was seemingly indifferent to suffering. This is perhaps an exaggeration of what most of us deal with on a daily basis. There are so many triggers and distractions that finding our way to kindness, to the compassion of the heart, can require concerted effort.

This was true for David as well, and the process of recording provided both the triggers and the way through.

Through the generosity of many, David and I were often able to inhabit creative spaces without the clock ticking in obvious ways. The pressures were still there of course, but we were searching for a transcendent beauty in the music and that required both a patience for the process and a kindness for all involved. David’s ability to bring forth the music that he did while wrestling with many worldly demons was for me a testament to the nature of his heart. The video below features the music “With Kindness” from the album Gratitude.

And here is a Spotify playlist that includes much of the work we did together.

Thanks for Listening,
Mickey and Judy Houlihan