music and virtue

I’m savoring some limited edition Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolate right now… oy! So delectable.

As I am away from the States right now, I’m coming to see why there are a lot of people who find us… really irritating. I thought I knew why before coming to Belarus, but… I’m getting a different perspective just by the sheer fact of having my dwelling place geographically located somewhere else… I’ve had to think about the things I value and why I value them… and where to make the distinction before a standard of goodness and personal preference or even inculcated or acculturated predispositions. Ah, yes, I find myself dancing around the timeless question, what is virtue?...

I hung out with a few girls last night. I was sharing some of my music with them. I was shocked… They had never heard of bands that I thought would be well known by now in most parts of the world, including Eastern Europe… like Dave Matthews Band. Counting Crows. Smashing Pumpkins. Barenaked Ladies. Moby. Simon and Garfunkel. Lauryn Hill. The Cure. Dashboard Confessional. B.B. King. Switchfoot. Frank Sinatra. Nope. Never heard of them. Granted, I wouldn’t have been shocked if 2 or 3 of those I just listed they didn’t know… I am sure many people in the States don’t know some of those groups. But to not know ANY of those 12 groups/singers was the bit that really astounded me. (I guess by now I should know that I shouldn’t have been shocked about such things in Belarus…)

They had heard, however, of U2 and the Cranberries, probably because they are European bands and not American bands… Though to their credit, they did know a few American singers and groups… namely, Lifehouse, Norah Jones,…