Have we begun expecting too much of art and music? These days, as an on-demand world drives us to demand ever more instant gratification, fewer and fewer people seem to have time for anything that cannot be appreciated in an instant. Worse, we’ve trapped ourselves in a mindset that says that the arts exist to bolster our cities and make our children smarter, and nothing that doesn’t quickly accomplish those goals is worth having. “It’s hard to argue for art on its purest grounds, because describing what makes art so powerful is hard to put into words… Often, the thing that makes a piece of art so important to you means nothing to the next guy.”