Sometimes when I get down on my writing, I think of Frank McCourt.
McCourt is best known for his novel Angela’s Ashes which won a Pulitzer Prize in 1997 (one of the most depressing books of all time). What’s interesting about McCourt is he didn’t start writing until he was in his 60’s and published Angela’s Ashes when he was 66.
I read another of his autobiographies, ‘Tis which chronicled his time teaching in the New York City public school system for 30 years. McCourt said while he was working, he had no energy and brain power left at the end of the day to tackle creative writing projects. It was only when he retired did he find the drive and creativity to write his series of award-winning novels.
I was reminded of this yesterday when Dave sent me a text that said “It’s never too late” with a link to an article in last week’s The Kingston Whig-Standard. The article was about a first-time author who at the age of 98 just published a book of poetry about living at Kingsbridge Retirement Community.
Lois Tryon started writing poems to while away the time, and the staff at the retirement residence had the idea to insert her poems in the daily menus to inspire her fellow residents.
This week’s #HappyAct is to remember it’s never too late. If you’re feeling like you should be further ahead in life, or in achieving your goals, keep at it. Here are some more examples of people who achieved greatness later in life:
Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC fame was 62 when he franchised his famous secret chicken recipe and opened his first restaurant
Julia Child didn’t publish her groundbreaking cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking until she was 50.
Ray Kroc was a milkshake device salesman until at the age of 52 when he bought McDonalds and turned it into the world’s largest franchise
Henry Ford was 45 when he created the Model T in 1908
The great Morgan Freeman didn’t make it big in acting until he was in his 50s.
Photo of Lois Tryon by Elliott Ferguson, Kingston Whig-Standard
Don’t let anyone tell you there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
This past month, I’ve enjoyed four free lunches, making me an official pensioner. I come by it honestly. The Swinton family motto after all is, “You can call me anything you want, just don’t call me late for dinner.”
My first free lunch was the annual Celebration of Friends of Empire Life retirees and 25-year employees. It was a wonderful afternoon of catching up with old friends and colleagues at the Kingston Marriott. Three hours flew by, and I realized I didn’t get a chance to talk to even half the people that were there.
My second free lunch was a thank you from my dear friend Pamela who is turning 92 this month. I drive Pamela to writing class every other Friday and she suggested we have lunch before class at Hattie’s Cove, the Senior’s Centre restaurant. They offer a free lunch to members each month celebrating a birthday.
My last two free lunches were volunteer appreciation luncheons hosted by South Frontenac Township and Southern Frontenac Community Services where Dave and I volunteered this summer in their garden. They were catered by Rampart Kitchens, a wonderful local caterer and we enjoyed eating the delicious Greek-themed meals, chatting with other volunteers in our community and listening to live music at the Grace Centre.
So, the next time someone tells you there’s no such thing as a free lunch, follow the Swinton rule.
The holiday season and New Year always provide ample opportunities to snag free nosh. Shop at stores that offer free hot chocolate and snacks, attend a dinner or craft night at your local church, or watch for invitations to a New Year’s Levee in your community. Many service groups or churches also offer a free Christmas or holiday meal at this time of year. Happy munching!
Note: While this post is meant to be tongue in cheek and a thank you for my free lunches this past month, food insecurity is a growing issue in many communities. Food Banks are in desperate need of donations, so if you are able to give, please give to your local food bank this holiday season. And if you live in South Frontenac, the Verona Lions host a free Christmas dinner every year on December 25 at noon at the Verona Lions Hall. They ask you register on their website so they have an idea of numbers.
On March 8, 1972, a moment caught in time changed the world. It was the photo of 9-year old Kim Phuc, running naked on a road after being severely burned by a napalm attack in the Vietnamese War. The photo, later named “The Terror of War”, would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize and sway the shifting sands of sentiment against the war in Vietnam.
I was very fortunate last week to meet Kim and hear her speak about the day her village was bombed, the famous photo and how it impacted her life, and her path to faith, forgiveness and finding peace in her heart and happiness as a wife, mother and through her work as a UNESCO Global Ambassador for Peace.
Kim, whose name means Golden Happiness in Vietnamese was just nine years old when the Viet Cong invaded her village. The villagers, especially the children, were sent to a nearby temple where they would be safe. When the four bombs hit her village, she ran. The searing heat from the napalm at 1200 degrees Celsius burned the clothes off her body and much of her skin.
Presumed dead, her body was taken to the morgue where she lay motionless, in agony for three days before her parents found her and moved her to a hospital. She was transferred to a burn hospital where she spent the next 14 months.
Ten years later, Kim was studying to be a doctor when the South Vietnamese government had her dismissed from medical school. They wanted her to be a national symbol and puppet spokesperson, but as Kim puts it, she did not want to give them the power over her story and refused to comply. She was sent to Cuba for the next six years, where she met her husband, a North Korean.
Returning from their honeymoon in Moscow, Kim knew one of her only chances for freedom was to defect. When their plane stopped in Gander, Newfoundland for an hour layover and to refuel, she knew what she had to do. She and her husband got off the plane and sought political asylum in Canada.
For many years, the emotional and physical scars of her ordeal (she has undergone 17 surgeries over the years) filled her heart with hatred. But she realized she had two choices, to change her heart, or die from hatred. She said it took years to find peace and forgive her enemies.
She told one story of going to Washington in 1996 and visiting the Vietnam War Memorial. It was a large public event and she was asked to speak. Many Vietnam vets were attending, including the soldier who planned the attack on her village (the pilot who dropped the bombs was actually Vietnamese).
This soldier, named John, came forward and said he had never forgiven himself for the past 24 years for what he did to her and her village. She hugged him, and realized for the first time she was not the only one who suffered that day. They remain close friends to this day.
Kim’s message is still relevant in today’s troubled world: peace, love and forgiveness will always be more powerful than hatred.
I was struck by how beautiful, inside and out Kim was. She radiated peace, goodness, and loved to laugh. Her favourite saying was “No way, Jose!” and she said “eh?” several times, declaring herself a true Canadian.
In 1997, she founded the Kim Foundation International, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping child victims of war. She still lives in Ajax, Ontario with her husband, and has three children and several grandchildren.
She also shared her secrets for living a happy, successful life:
Free your heart from hatred Free your mind from worry Live simple Give more Expect less
This week is Remembrance Day. As we honour the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country, and the victims of war, remember the words of the napalm girl, that peace, love and forgiveness will always be more powerful than hatred.
It’s the story of Christopher Knight, an average guy who at the age of 26, decided to live in the Maine woods on his own and didn’t talk or interact with another human being for the next 27 years.
He didn’t create art, he never kept a journal, he didn’t even talk to himself. He just spent his days in his clearing (the guy didn’t even have a cabin) surviving and existing.
Knight was never lonely during his time in the woods. He would sometimes read or listen to the radio, but spent the majority of his free time sitting in a lawn chair “in quiet contemplation” thinking about wherever his mind went. He claimed he was never bored and didn’t understand the concept of boredom. Boredom only applied to people “who felt they had to be doing something all the time.”
In considering Knight’s motives, Finkel explores various ancient beliefs and customs centred around living a life of solitude.
The first great literary work about solitude was written by a hermit protestor Lao-tzu in the sixth century. In Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu wrote 81 verses about the pleasure of forsaking society and living in harmony with the seasons. Lao-tzu believed that only through retreat rather than pursuit, through inaction, rather than action, that we acquire wisdom and peace.
Finkel quotes the eighteenth-century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. “I have become solitary because to me the most desolate solitude seems preferable to the society of wicked men which is nourished only in betrayals and hatred.”
Carl Jung said that only an introvert could see the “unfathomable stupidity of man.” Sartre wrote “Hell is other people.”
Herman Melville who wrote Moby Dick withdrew from public life for 30 years. He wrote, “All profound things are preceded and attended by Silence.”
The greatest philosopher of all time, Dave says, “I prefer to spend my time with dogs than people.”
Knight related to the Greek philosophy of stoicism that held self-control and harmonious existence with nature constituted a virtuous life and you must endure hardship without complaint.
He also felt a kinship with Socrates who said, “Beware the barrenness of a busy life. You become free not when you fulfill your desires, but by eliminating desire. Those with less become content; those with more become confused.”
So what learnings can we take away from these philosophies and Knight’s experience? I’m not suggesting we turn our back on society, but perhaps we can experience a greater peace, stillness and happiness by seeking moments of solitude.
I asked at the start how many days can you go without speaking to another soul? I’ve learned for me the answer is three days. I can spend three days quietly at home, at peace in nature and be happy. After three days, I seek human interaction and connection and will reach out to friends or plan some social activity.
I have blogged before about the epidemic of loneliness. It’s important to delineate between being alone and being lonely.
Solitude when chosen, can be bliss, but when it is forced upon mankind, it can be torturous and is still to this day one of the great punishments inflicted on people.
Finkel makes this point in the book, quoting US Senator John McCain who spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, two of them alone. McCain described his experience as “awful. It crushes your spirit. The onset of despair is immediate.”
Solitude must be a choice.
It seems only fitting to bestow the final words to Knight: “If you like solitude, you are never alone. What I miss most in the woods is somewhere in between quiet and solitude. What I miss most is stillness.”
“Solitude bestows an increase in something valuable…Solitude increased my perception. But here’s the tricky thing: when I applied my increased perception to myself, I lost my identity. There was no audience, no one to perform for. There was no need to define myself. I became irrelevant.”
His isolation felt like a communion. “My desires dropped away. I didn’t long for anything. I didn’t even have a name. To put it romantically, I was completely free.”
This week’s #HappyAct is to experience solitude. Be happy and be free.
Leave a comment: how many minutes, hours or days could you go without talking to someone?
I’ve always been jealous of people who are really great at something.
I know I’ve been dealt more than a fair hand at life. I’m average-looking with average intelligence and am generally considered to be a nice person.
I was a good student but never Mensa or Harvard material. I can hold my own in most sports, but never competed provincially or at a higher competitive level. I can make a mean stew and banana bread, but would never cut it on Master Chef Canada.
I can write passably, but nowadays with ChatGPT, Bing and Gemini, any human and now machine can spew out the drivel I share each week in my little Crappy Act as Dave likes to call it.
The list of things I suck at is even longer. I can’t sew or hem, I wouldn’t know where to begin on any building or home renovation project and I’ve inherited my father’s innate inability at wrapping presents. (One of my favourite things to do on Christmas Eve was watch my father make a batch of wrapping every one of my Mom’s presents while drinking a few glasses of rye and ginger.)
It doesn’t help that the entertainment industry flaunts in our faces the many talents of celebrities who seem to be great at everything. Jim Carrey is an accomplished artist. Actresses like Anna Kendrick, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson can act, dance and sing like songbirds plus have successful businesses on the side. Anthony Hopkins writes symphonies for gods’ sake. And those Helmsworth brothers, Chris and Liam. It’s not enough they’re gorgeous and talented actors, they can even dance.
When I retired, I hoped I would discover something I’m great at. I tried painting since my Mom was an accomplished painter.
I signed up for a 3-hour workshop where the theme was painting a beach scene, since it was the dreary winter months. Using a photo as our inspiration, my friend Angela and I spent the next three hours practising our brush strokes painting white sand beaches, blue waters and palm trees. While people ooh’ed and aah’ed over each other’s canvases, mine somehow ended up resembling L.A. after the wildfires. One guy actually said to me, “Yeah, those palm trees aren’t good.”
I tossed the finished painting on my dresser for a couple of weeks, trying to decide whether I should fix it, paint over it or just throw it out. One day I came home and it wasn’t there. Dave had hung it as a joke in the kitchen above the stove. It’s still hanging there. A true masterpiece. Judge for yourself.
Okay, so maybe painting isn’t my thing. But just maybe it’s not as important to discover what you are great at, so much as what you are most passionate about and love to do.
It’s the last weeks of summer. Whether you’re planning a final road trip with the family or just looking for staycation ideas, now is a great time to visit a museum. Here is my top ten list of little museums that are perfect for a one hour or half-day stop. Be sure to check their websites for any free admission days.
Miner’s museum in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia: while the museum itself is small, the experience is large, making this museum one of my favourites in Canada. Join a former miner as you walk down the stopes underground and learn about coal mining in Cape Breton.
Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough: We visited this terrific little museum in 2020 before it expanded and relocated to the shores of the Trent-Severn waterway. I’m itching to go back to see what new treasures and exhibits are on display. You can even now spend a morning or afternoon paddling on site. Read my post An Afternoon at the Canadian Canoe Museum for the full rundown.
Les Trois Pignons rughooking museum in Cheticamp, Nova Scotia: located near the end of the Cabot Trail, this museum features astonishing works of art made from rughooking, the region’s specialty. It costs only $7 and you can tour it in about half an hour, making it well worth the stop.
Bata Shoe museum in Toronto: Opened in 1995 after the Bata family’s private shoe collection outgrew its home, this famous little museum has been attracting visitors for more than 30 years. Current exhibitions include the history of the cowboy boot, how crime investigators use footprints and footwear in their work, and footwear through the ages.
Toronto Holocaust Museum: Opened in 2023, this new museum on Bathurst St. north of Sheppard inspires visitors to think deeply about the tragedies of the Holocaust and make connections between the holocaust and contemporary world events and Canadian life. Montreal also has a holocaust museum. It’s currently under renovation and will reopen its doors in 2026.
The Canadian Potato Museum in Prince Edward Island: quintessentially Canadian, we loved this little museum that celebrates PEI’s biggest export (20% of the potatoes in Canada come from PEI). Learn about how spuds are grown and their importance to the development of Canada’s smallest province and enjoy a selection of potato dishes in their restaurant. Bonus points for having one of the friendliest and accommodating staff around—our family arrived in late April when the museum was still closed, but they let us in for free and let us look around “as long as we didn’t mind the mess”.
Diefenbunker: located in Carp just west of Ottawa is a four-storey underground bunker built in 1959 by Prime Minister Diefenbaker to serve as the headquarters and communications hub during the Cold War.
Tim Horton’s Museum in Hamilton: located on the second floor of the original Tim Hortons store in Hamilton at 65 Ottawa Street, this little museum recently underwent renovations. Make sure you order a double double when you’re there.
Gopher Hole Museum in Torrington, Alberta: Touted as the “world famous” gopher hole museum, this museum is by donation and features vignettes of gophers and a gopher gift shop. You gotta see it to believe it.
Kingston Penitentiary Museum: eclipsed by the Kingston Penitentiary tours (fantastic by the way and free with the tour), don’t miss this fantastic little museum in the historic warden’s house across from the pen. Learn how famous inmate escaped and life behind bars—the perfect one-hour visit.
This week’s #HappyAct is to visit one of Canada’s great little museums. And my apologies to BC: even though I’ve been to British Columbia many times, I never visit museums because the province is so beautiful, I tend to spend all my time outdoors.
Here’s a bonus museum for when we’re all ready to travel to the States again: It’s a Wonderful Life Museum in Seneca Falls, New York. Still under renovation, plan to visit this wonderful little museum in the future. Read my Lessons on Life and Happiness from the museum.
Photos: above: Dave holding up a canoe at the Canadian Canoe Museum. Below: our guide at the Miner’s Museum in Glace Bay; Clare and I in front of the Canadian Potato Museum this spring; one of the incredible rughooking works of art of Confederation at Les Trois Pignons rughooking museum in Cheticamp, NS.
Our bus hit a polar bear. Someone was giving the bear CPR and my head was stuck in its jaws and no one was helping me. Seriously.
Fear. Absolute fear. How did I get myself into this situation?
Well, I signed up for it, a Level One improv class at the Tett Centre in Kingston.
I was a longtime fan of Whose Line is it Anyway so when I saw the ad for improv classes pop up on my Facebook feed I thought ‘Why not’?
I sent the payment, put all the dates on my calendar, told my wife I would be busy Tuesday nights, poured myself a tall glass of red wine and thought to myself “What have I done….?’
The class will probably be filled with quick-thinking Queen’s students… and me. I’m almost 62. I forget people’s names, I can’t think of the right word now and then, I never remember where I put my wallet and keys and the list goes on.
Now I’m going to be put in odd situations with people I don’t know, with no prep time, and have to make a 3-4 minute scene flow seamlessly by blurting what comes to mind first! “Don’t think” they tell you, the gold is what comes out first. Oh, and it helps if you get a few laughs along the way. No pressure at all.
It turns out there was no pressure.
I wasn’t the oldest in the class which for some reason made me feel good.
And there was laughter. Every class. We laughed with others and we laughed at ourselves.
Reader’s Digest had a section called Laughter is the Best Medicine. Turns out it’s true. Laughter is a wonderful thing. Studies around the world have shown laughter boosts immunity, lowers stress hormones, decreases pain, relaxes your muscles, and can help prevent heart disease. Those are just the physical benefits. Mentally, laughter eases anxiety, tension and stress, and can improve your mood. It checked a lot of boxes for me.
Improv was a great way for me to challenge myself, but more importantly, a great way to laugh at myself and at others sweating it out on stage!
For two hours a week I gave no thought to divisive politics, inflation, how to survive retirement, or the long list of social issues we hear about on our daily news feeds. I just laughed. I highly recommend it.
I hope that polar bear is doing okay.
Jon Begg is a communications specialist, husband, father, grandfather, and fisherman who’s been telling jokes and laughing all his life.
As a big fan and regular attendee of the Kingston Canadian Film Festival, I can attest that Canadian film is alive and well. I also believe now, more than ever, we must support Canadian arts and films.
There are local events happening across the country and several streaming services are highlighting Canadian films. You can find a list of local screenings near you at canfilmday.ca.
Here are ten great Canadian films to check out this week:
The Queen of My Dreams: a young Queer Pakistani-Canadian woman returns to Pakistan for her father’s funeral, learning about her mother’s past in this romantic comedy/drama. My favourite film from last year’s KCCF screenings. Now streaming on Crave, Amazon Prime and Apple TV+
The Swearing Jar: I loved this sweet romantic comedy about a high school music teacher who hires a guitar player to play at her husband’s birthday party. Watch on Prime Video.
Scarborough: Catherine Hernandez’s poignant novel is brought to life in this captivating film about children growing up in poverty in Scarborough. Now streaming on Paramount Plus.
Blackberry: Jay Baruchel portrays CEO Mike Lazaridis in this fascinating tale of the rise and fall of one of the greatest Canadian success stories. Available on CBC Gem, Prime Video and Crave.
Shepherds: this year’s opening night feature at the Kingston Canadian Film Festival is a stirring story of a Quebec man who decides to leave big city life behind to become a shepherd in France. Now streaming on Crave.
One Week: this 2008 film starring Joshua Jackson follows Ben Tyler who takes a road trip across Canada after being diagnosed with cancer and scored Jackson the Best Actor nod at the 2010 Genie awards. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video or Paramount Plus.
Peace by Chocolate: inspired by a true story of a Syrian refugee in Nova Scotia who is torn between his dream of becoming a doctor and his love for making chocolate. Watch free on Plex.
Just Friends: while technically not a Canadian film (it was an international production between Canada, US and Germany), this hilarious comedy featuring Ryan Reynolds and Anna Faris is still one of my favourites and will appeal to every Canadian who loves pond hockey, wintry weather and Christmas. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
You are Here: The Come From Away Story: this heartwarming documentary returns to Gander 20 years after this small Newfie town became a safe haven for travellers stranded in the aftermath of 911. The friendships forged will restore your faith in US/Canadian relations.
Meatballs: still a Canadian classic, this 1979 film about a bunch of goofy camp counsellors starring Bill Murray will leave you in stitches and chanting, “Spaz, spaz, spaz…”. Watch free on CTV with ads.
This week’s #HappyAct is to support Canadian film. Happy viewing!
It’s been a rough couple of weeks in our household. We were out of power off and on for five days during the “Ice Storm of 2025”, the Montreal Canadiens lost a few critical games in their bid for a wild card spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and I was struggling with some of my writing projects.
A bit of backstory. I’ve been taking a writing course through the Seniors Association of Kingston on refining and editing your work. The instructor brought in a bunch of “how to” books and I borrowed one called “The Essential Guide to Writing a Novel” by James Thayer. It had some great insights and tips, but I discovered to my horror that I’ve made every rookie mistake a wannabe author makes when writing their first novel and that publishers look for before tossing the manuscript in the “no” pile.
As I tried to apply the learnings from the book—include backstory, but not too much or too soon; describe your characters, don’t describe your characters, let the dialogue show who they are–I became more and more confused and started second guessing everything I wrote. Every word I put down on the page sounded like crap and I found it very humbling and demoralizing.
I put my laptop away and turned on the TV. It was April 1st, April Fool’s Day and the Montreal Canadiens were playing the Florida Panthers one of the best teams in the league. The Canadiens were down 2-1 and Dave, whose nickname in our household is “Worst Habs Fan Ever” was about to say, “Turn it off, I can’t watch them lose again” when Nick Suzuki tied it with nine seconds left in the third period, sending the game into overtime. 29 seconds into overtime, Suzuki scored again with a class wraparound play to win the game 3-2.
Now I’ve been a hockey fan all my life and I never, EVER give up on my team until the buzzer goes (and just for the record, I cheer for the Leafs, Habs and Sens or any one of the Canadian teams once the playoffs start). I have always believed “it’s not over until the fat lady sings*”. The Canadiens proved that night you just need to have faith.
Later that week, I was back on the couch watching an interview on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with Elton John and Brandi Carlisle who have just released a new album called Who Believes in Angels. They went into the recording studio without a single song written in advance with the goal of writing the entire album in 20 days. The first few days of recording were a disaster and Elton said he experienced moments of serious self-doubt. When Fallon expressed surprise that someone like him Elton John, could experience self-doubt, Elton replied, “You’re not a creative artist if you don’t doubt yourself”.
So I’ve decided I am going to embrace my self-doubt about my writing and see it as part of the creative process. I will continue to have faith in myself and keep writing.
This week’s #HappyAct is to never lose faith: in your team, in others, and most importantly, in yourself.
Ed note: The famous idiom, “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings” can be traced back to different sources, including when the lead soprano would sing in operas, but became a common saying in sports and hockey when Kate Smith would sing God Bless America at Philidelphia Flyers games in the 1970s. Go Habs/Leafs/Sens go!
Last week, I was lucky enough to attend a Choir Choir Choir performance at the Grand Theatre in Kingston, featuring the songbook of Queen and Freddie Mercury.
In case you are unfamiliar with Choir, Choir, Choir, it’s a performance where a duo called Daveed and Nobu sing and play guitar and conduct the audience in harmonies of their favourite songs. At a triple C performance, the audience is the star.
Choir Choir Choir is uniquely Canadian. It started in Toronto 14 years ago as a weekly drop-in for people who were looking for an outlet to sing. Since then, it has grown to be a popular mainstage show, the duo having performed at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Massey Hall. They describe the experience as equal parts singing, comedy, and community building. Their motto is “Never stop singing”.
It was surprising to see how quickly the audience came out of their shell. As adults, we tend to be self-conscious when we sing, especially if we aren’t blessed with a great voice, but the sheer joy of the music and the experience quickly drowned out our fears and feelings of self-consciousness, and soon everyone was singing in full voice.
It is a powerful thing to hear voices raised in song, singing with passion and commitment. When the crowd sang the Canadian national anthem at the recent Four Nations Cup hockey tournament in Montreal, it was an incredibly moving and galvanizing moment for Canadians. I wish I had been there to experience it.
For “You’re My Best Friend”, they asked the audience to videochat a bestie during the song. My friend Leslie was laughing as I sang to her “been with you such a long time, you’re my sunshine”…
When it came time for the encore, Bohemian Rhapsody, Daveed and Nobu invited people to join them on stage to sing and dance along.
A few interesting facts about Bohemian Rhapsody, arguably the best rock song of all time. When it was first released in 1975, it immediately went to #1 on the charts in almost every country in the world, except the US where it climbed only to #9. The song found a whole new generation of fans and hit #1 on the charts again in 1992 when Canadian Mike Meyers’ Wayne’s World was released.
As we sang Scaramouche, scaramouche can you do the fandango, we were all on our feet, singing at the top of our lungs. Watch the video below to see the crowd erupt on stage during the guitar solo.
I walked out of the theatre feeling joyous and uplifted. People were smiling, laughing, singing and humming, with one lady singing Don’t Stop Believing loudly in a vestibule. Oh, what a night.
This week’s #HappyAct is to never stop singing. Let’s take a pledge going forward to all sing our National Anthem out loud at events instead of standing in respectful silence.
Happy Act 