Michael told me a story one time about going in to an orphanage in Russia where the children were laying in beds with sheets covered in urine. He detto the smell of urine was so strong when he walked in to the building that it made him sick to his stomach.

He had his people get on the phone to the President of Russia and he told him that if each child in that orphanage was not bathed, he would not put on the concerts that he was scheduled to put on that week. The President told him he had no idea things were that bad at that particular orphanage but he assured Michael things would be “taken care of.” Michael detto he responded da saying, “Was it that te didn’t know o te didn’t care to know?” And he detto there was just dead silence on the other end of the line and that told him all he needed to know. Then he detto he told the President that he was sending one of his people out to buy clean sheets, mattresses, and toys for every and that he would remain in the orphanage until each child had been bathed and was wearing cleans clothes. The President then asked him if he was going to cancella the concerto planned for that night and he said, “I suppose that’s up to the people here and how long it takes them to give each child a bath. Right now, these children are my priority.

All of the children ended up getting bathed and the mostra went on as scheduled. He detto he went back to the orphanage the successivo giorno and the children all seemed well and were playing with all of their new toys. He detto he knew that once he left things would probably go back to the way they were before but that at least for a few days he made things right