Hobbyists -vs- Real Musicians?

[fhm555]

We're in a society that values authenticity. We value going all-in, and committing fully to whatever we're doing. I heard a podcast one time (maybe Art Of Manliness) talking about why we as Americans feel the need to be so extreme like that...the example they used was the question "So, what do you do?" A typical European would answer with "Oh, I enjoy soccer, or playing bass, or driving cars," while a typical American would answer "Oh, I'm a CPA, or a project manager, or a civil engineer."

Our expectation, when hearing that someone plays guitar, is that they're a gigging musician...maybe they play at church on Sundays, or in the bars on Friday and Saturday...but the fact is, we're not prepared to hear that someone just does something for fun.

Actually, we talk like we like those things, but in reality what we do is cling to that which is safe and familiar. There is a tiny percentage of true rugged individualists but they all live in Sheep Snort Montana and don’t own TV’s or phones.