Have you ever been given a gift you didn?t want? You know, like concert tickets to a concert you don?t want to go to? Sunday was Mother¹s Day in the US, and Colin Powell, while meeting with Abu Mazen, proclaimed that the ?Road Map? made by the ?Quartet? was somehow a great Mother?s Day present. A Mother?s Day present? Please, Mr. Powell, I appreciate the sentiment, but this is a concert I don?t want to go to.



I hate quartets ? string quartets, brass quartets, singing quartets, even jazz quartets. I always avoid going to see them, and I never wanted to be part of one. When I did play or sing in a quartet as a requirement in highschool or college, I understood why I didn?t like them. Musicians or singers usually play for the audience; there is a beautiful interaction between the making of music and the audience?s appreciation of that music. But quartets are different. They are self-conducted, and totally self-absorbed. Look at how a quartet sits ? they face each other, not the audience. Quartets do not play for an audience; they play for each other.



A member of a quartet is too busy trying to keep up the tempo with the other members, too busy trying to not miss an entrance, and too busy worrying whether they have held a note long enough, or whether they are perfectly in tune, to worry about the audience. A member of a quartet is so wrapped up in the music that he or she is making, that it doesn?t matter whether anyone else likes what they are doing. They don?t care. They can?t care.



Often, when I am at a concert, and I am suddenly presented (usually at the end) with some form of a quartet, I resent it. This has happened to me several times, and I used to be too polite to get up and leave. I used to think to myself, ?I will insult the musicians if I leave.? I also worried about what the rest of the audience would think. So, I would sit and endure the horror of self-motivated music for a half-hour or so, and grit my teeth.



Now, I am not so polite.



I have realized now that if I get up and leave, the musicians will never notice. They keep playing no matter what happens. After all, I am a member of the audience ? I am not really important to them. I have also noticed that many other audience members, relieved at my boldness, and with sudden permission to leave, will quickly grab their things and follow me out. People I have never met will smile at me, roll their eyes, and exchange great sighs with me at the coat check. We have saved a lot of time, and escaped a painful experience.



This is why I was not surprised when a group of nations calling themselves a ?Quartet? created a self-interested and ridiculous cacophony called the ?Road Map for Peace? and didn?t care whether the rest of us liked it. Why should they care? They are playing for each other. These members of the ?Quartet? don?t care whether the ?Road Map to Peace? works for others, they only care that they have kept up with one another, stayed with the tempo, and held their tone. These national leaders, armed only with their own score, some average talent, and a penchant toward making music with one another, really couldn?t care less about the rest of the world. Although they are in concert, and they have dedicated their performance to Israel, their intention is not to make harmony for others, it is to make something of note with one another.



Israel is certainly trapped. She has been named as the beneficiary of this disturbing concert, and out of politeness will not get up and leave. But if good music has the way of making harmony between people who would normally not agree, bad music has an even more potent effect. These horrible tones, played so lovingly for one another by the members of the ?Quartet?, have had the effect of making even those who would not normally agree on anything, hold their ears, grimace, and demand change.



How long will it take for Israel to face the music, stop being so polite, and admit the fact that she doesn?t want to be a part of a discordant performance? She has, for too long, been forced to attend these macabre concerts for no reason, and Israel is always too polite to leave the room. Meanwhile, while Israel sits in the darkened concert hall politely listening to the quartet, those who never came to the concert will continue killing Jews.



Will it matter to the Quartet if Israel gets up and leaves? The Quartet will never notice; they will go on playing to each other without Israel. But, if Israel gets up and leaves, she will bring great relief to many of us who love and support her and who don?t want to be dragged into this out-of-tune and badly played settlement of old scores. Many Americans ? politicians and the public alike ? who have been forced to listen to the Quartet out of our dedication to Israel, will grab our things and follow her out, relieved that she finally knows her strength and has realized she doesn?t need to be so polite. More harmony will be found at the coat check, where we can roll our eyes, sigh, and smile at one another, knowing we have saved a lot of time, and escaped another painful attempt at harmony.

--------------------------------------------------------

Michelle Nevada lives in a small town in rural Nevada. She can be contacted at [email protected].