It's never to late to learn something...

While you are reading this, I invite you to listen here, here and here.  It is important.

I've lived overseas.  I have had good/great friends from countries that were cold war villians and, this is totally my provincialism, because these countries were part of my historical/educational lexicon I could separate out the good and bad and not just judge the "book" by the governmental "cover".

I've know of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra from Chavez's Venuzuela for a while and perhaps because my knowledge of countries, through pure ignorance, is often clouded by our political feelings or moral disregard in the case of, for instance, Columbia and drugs, we overlook that there are amazing goings on here and there.  This Youth Orchestra is just such an amazing thing.

Reading further, in a nation of 25 million, about 5% of ALL kids are part of a national youth orchestra system that is all free; right down to the instruments and lessons. Watch the You Tube performance and hit the links to others that appear.  I'm not arguing that Chavez is our friend or that we want him to be but there is a good chunk of the Venezualian youth...well over 1/2 a million, in a program that changes their lives and this orchestra can flat out play.