This summer, I started listening to a few podcasts on my walks some mornings, and this little bit from a conversation with Yo-Yo Ma on OnBeing has stuck with me. The interviewer (Krista Tippett) mentioned the joy that audiences felt from him in his performances, and he explained it as wanting to be a gracious host, and then this -
Krista - "But you don't have to be joyful, right?...You can be gracious without being joyful..."
Yo-Yo Ma - "Well, maybe the joyfulness could be the hope of joy."
I think this is just so beautiful. It has stayed in my mind, and it's still sifting around a bit. I love the choice of it - you don't have to be joyful, right? And also the explanation, maybe what others see isn't even necessarily joy he feels in that moment (though maybe it is), maybe it's just the hope of that -whether the joy is there yet or not... I'm still sorting it out, but I loved this.
(And I've really enjoyed most of the other OnBeing podcasts I've listened to so far too)
