This story absolutely blew me away. On January 12, 2007 Joshua Bell, arguably the greatest violinist in the world and one time child prodigy, helped to conduct a very thought provoking study in a metro station in Washington D.C. He played some of the greatest classical music ever written on his 3.5 million dollar violin for 45 minutes to see if he and the music would be appreciated by every day, busy Americans. In the entire time that he played he was given a total of $32 in tips and received no applause or recognition. Most never even stopped to listen or pay attention. The most interested of all seemed to be children. Just two days before Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats averaged $100 each. After this event he headed off on a concert tour to European capitals. It really does make you stop and ask…how many truly great and truly beautiful things do we miss in life, because we are too busy wtih insignificant nonsense? Let’s stop and smell the roses a little more often! Read the whole story as printed in the Washington Post HERE. Yes, I verified on Snopes.com that the story is true.
