KristyWes

Quoting Yo-Yo

Tiffany's 5th Ave storefront, with the UNICEF Snowflake reflected

Did you happen to catch the Kennedy Center Honors last month?  I love watching this show.  This year's honorees included Meryl Streep, Sonny Rollins, Barbara Cook, Neil Diamond, and Yo-Yo Ma. 

In honoring them and their many achievements, the show didn't shy away from mentioning some of the stars' darker moments - the drugs, depression, incarceration, professional failure, etc.  I thought that was so interesting and important - to acknowledge both the light and dark, the ups and downs, the hard stuff that gives birth to shining moments of success.  You know - life.

Yo-Yo Ma was particularly adorable to watch during the broadcast.  He was so un-jaded, so enthusiastic - at one point you could see him turn to Meryl Streep (Meryl Frickin' Streep!) and exclaim, "OhmyGod!!" as they brought out another musical act to pay homage to Mr. Ma's achievements.

Watching the prior interviews with Yo-Yo, a couple of things he said stuck out to me:

On Exploring / Goals:

"Every day I make an effort to go toward what I don't understand." 

On Fear:

"I'm not brave; I'm actually pretty scared a lot of the time. But I must like being scared, because I keep doing things that scare me."

I'd like more of both in this new year - to go towards what I don't understand and do things that scare me.

Thanks, Yo-Yo, for the inspiration and the music.