Classical music doesn’t care if you think it is long and boring

Immature and selfish. Are there any two more undesirable attributes? You might say cruel and unfeeling but cruel and unfeeling are just different iterations of immature and selfish.

As positive as I feel I’ve tried to be of late, it is time to recognize that there are no two words that describe our culture better than immature and selfish. It’s been going on for quite some time and the bill has now come due.

I think classical music was the first to feel the squeeze of these two colossal character flaws. I should first give a description of what immature and selfish are. I’m going to use the Dhammapada as my source.

“The immature are their own enemies, doing selfish deeds which will bring them sorrow. That deed is selfish which brings remorse and suffering in its wake...

"Sweet are selfish deeds to the immature until they see the results; when they see the results, they suffer...

"As fresh milk needs time to curdle, a selfish deed takes time to bring sorrow in its wake. Like fire smoldering under the ashes, slowly does it burn the immature.

"Even if they pick up a little knowledge, the immature misuse it and break their heads instead of benefiting from it.

"The immature go after false prestige...and praise from all. ‘Listen, monks and householders, I can do this; I can do that. I am right and you are wrong.’ Thus their pride and passion increase.”

At it’s best, classical music is a context in which the immature and selfish cannot exist. In order to participate in classical music a performer must have the maturity to at least learn all the notes. An audience member must have the maturity to at least sit through them. Beyond that, the best performers are those who have an attitude of service not selfishness.

Classical music doesn’t care if you think it is long and boring. If you think such things you are clearly immature and selfish and will go find an item that fulfills and oftentimes legitimizes those characteristics.

As the immature and selfish have become not just prevalent but celebrated, as is the case in the rampantly popular genre of reality TV, classical music has been marginalized because it fails to feed the two-headed monster that is our selfie culture.

The issues with classical music, in the United States, are not the rise of technology or the lack of education but the disturbing inclusion of immaturity and selfishness as virtues. One can become the President of the United States with such virtues.

You might think it unfair to slip a political jab in, but do I need to remind you who will be presiding over the Kennedy Center Honors this December? Policies aside, there can be no denying the immature and selfish qualities that this man has displayed for his entire public life.

This is where I’m supposed to give a little ray of hope for the future, but if you’ve read this far then you're probably able to generate your own hope. Only the immature and the selfish need to have hope generated for them by another.