Siliencesil-ee-uhns

n. The brilliant artistry hidden all around you. It's fun to think of your favorite musicians when they were just starting out, playing on a street corner when nobody knew who they were. If you had been there, would you have stopped to listen?

How strange that something so vibrant as art is so nearly invisible. Strange how rarely we look up at the architecture, or savor each bite of a meal cooked with care.

Who knows how many Van Goghs you might be walking past, just a few years too early to recognize? Maybe the next Emily Dickinson is living just down the street, sitting on an unpublished masterpiece. We assume that if a piece is any good, it'll find an audience. But maybe it's mostly luck.

Just imagine the courage it takes to set a guitar case down on the cobblestones and make that first move. To keep pouring your heart into something, even if it falls on deaf ears. Indifference is easy. It takes courage to fight back against it.