A few days ago in my Music Theory class, we (and by "we" I mean, pretty much everyone BUT me) got into what turned out to be approximately a 30 minute debate. It started off with a topic about something having to do with "Who does a composer write music for: himself or an audience?" or something like that, and spiraled into a huge, ridiculous rabbit-trail event spanning from "How is music accessible?" to "What is the definition of 'accessible music'?" to "Musical aesthetics" to "How do you define the 'aesthetics' of music?", etc. etc. etc... You see my point.
What fascinated me, and made me step back and just observe this whole situation from an outsider's point of view rather than being in the conversation, was how riled up and frustrated and loud people got about a subject matter that didn't actually directly pertain to ANYONE in the room. None of us are composers. We are all either music education or music performance majors. No one is a composition major. But nonetheless, those who participated, voiced their opinions, shouted, got offended, and talked themselves in circles as if the topic was something that was of life-altering, end-of-the-world, facing-death importance...
I just don't understand that. I will never understand why people feel it's so important to get their opinions out and feel SO strongly about some things. ESPECIALLY topics like this that, really in all honesty, are just not that important.
I'm the kind of person who doesn't take a side, doesn't form an opinion, and just sits back and listens to what EVERYONE has to say in order to hear all sides of the matter. It has almost become a form of entertainment for me to just sit back and listen to people argue to their wit's end about things that really don't make one bit of difference. Maybe I'm just ignorant, or maybe I'm just ill-informed, but to me, it is unimportant to get upset and quasi-passionate about things that don't "change the world."
I think about the people in the world who argue and debate for their livings, and I just feel so bad for them. How stressful must their lives be! Getting worked up like that certainly cannot be good for your heart, and I bet, in all honesty, that it ends up taking days or even years off of one's life. Those who are easily angered just make me sad. It only takes one little tiny thing to set them off, and then they have a bad attitude for the rest of the day.
I prefer to live in my own little bubble of contentment. I don't let minuscule things bother me or get under my skin, because at the end of the day, they don't really matter to my life. My life, though it's obviously imperfect, is at least less stressful than the lives of those people who let things get under their skin. I'm really good at just taking things as they are presented to me and dealing with them, rather than putting up a wall and a fight. I don't usually form opinions, because actually, who do they count for? No one but yourself. People who form opinions do just that. They form opinions. Everyone's is different, and it is highly unlikely that debating for a half an hour about obscure topics such as "The aesthetic of music" is going to change anyone's opinion.
So, yeah. Your opinion counts. Kind of. Mostly just to you. Good luck with that.
