The Passion of a Violinist

Our family gathered to celebrate an old fashion Christmas with a traditional book exchange. Books intrigue me almost as much as watching a baseball game.

It was Christmas Day at our house. A time when ten happy folks gathered to exchange gifts, have some fellowship, and eat lots of food. Who cares about weight? Enjoy. Have you been good? Are you on Santa's lists? 

The Christmas tree lights are on. As we gathered around the tree gawking eyes stared at all the gifts. Names in a bag revealed who got what gift.

I like to read. John Grisham was one of my favorite authors. I read all of his books except one, The Judges Lists which I just opened. Calico Joe, a story about a baseball player was another favorite. Either way, laugh or cry, I always enjoyed reading a god book.

Recently I heard an interesting sermon at church. That's where I learned about Joshua Bell, famous violinist.

My daughter Debbie is a talented musician. When I drew her name out of the bag I thought of Joshua Bell. Again I'm always interested in people whom fulfill a passion by rising up on their own bootstraps.

Joshua Bell was a brilliant violinist at four years of age. After his mother discovered that he took some rubber bands from around the house and stretched them across the handles of nine dresser drawers to pluck some music he heard his mother play on the piano, he started taking lessons on a scale to size violin at five.

His parents wanted him to be average just like any other kid, but he had other ideas. He was serious about music and at 14 played with the Philadelphia orchestra. The rest is history.

On January 12, 2007 Bell doned a baseball cap and played an incognito busker at the Metro subway station in Washington D.C.. 1,067 people passed by him while only seven stopped to listen to him. For a 45 minute performance he collected only $32.17 from twenty-seven people.

Today Joshua Bell is a famous violinist all over the world. It's an interesting story with a good lesson to learn. Don't let anything stop you. Allow your passion to grow and who knows, you may be successful.

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