Run Sheet
00/11/25
Okay, I admit it, I'm a rebel, a troublemaker, I'm just a bad, bad, bad man.
Today I disrupted a children's music recital.
Actually, that's what one of the ladies who organized it accused me of.
No I'll admit that I'm not the most quiet, graceful or tactful creature that god ever strung guts through, but I wouldn't intentionally cause a disturbance in a children's music recital, and, in fact I don't believe I did.
Here's what happened. We were gathered in a church on a lovely November afternoon. A bunch of kids from the local music school was putting on a recital of various musical pieces for the gathered parents and guests. Both of my kids take piano lessons at this school and were there to play just like the rest of them. It never ceases to amaze me that my boys can play piano. I can barely play a kazoo and it's ben said that I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, but both of my boys can sit at a piano and pound out lovely stuff. They get it from their mother.
Anyway, both of my boys had played and all of us settled back in the pew to listen to the rest of the kids. A young Asian boy climbed on stage, arranged his sheet music, and put his flute to his lips. Music flowed softly from his instrument and stirred my heart. The song he played was "O Canada" our national anthem.
So, being the good Canadian that I am, and as I had always been taught, I stood at attention. Beside me both of my boys rose and stood at attention as they have been taught by both their family and their school. We stood silently and still. Once we had stood others noticed us standing and realized what the song was, and they stood too. Predictably, as more people stood more others noticed until soon everyone was standing. As the momentum of the crowd increased the boy looked up from his music and faltered, not expecting this to happen. The music stopped for a moment, then began, weakly at first but soon as strong as ever until the song was finished.
We all sat down and enjoyed the rest of the recital. As we filed out the lady who had organized it all came over to me and said "Was that really necessary?"
I was taken aback by being confronted by this obviously angry woman and said "I beg your pardon?"
"Was that really necessary?"
"Excuse me ma'am, was what really necessary?"
"Standing up and disrupting the recital, you ruined his musical piece!"
"Ma'am, he was playing the national anthem, of course I stood, as should any person in this country"
"Sir, this is NOT a sporting event, this is a music recital!"
I remembered standing at the cenotaph on rememberance day on the 11th as our anthem played. An old veteran in a wheelchair reached out and grabbed my arm to try to heave himself to his feet. I had never met the man before but I held his arm and helped him up as did the guy on the other side of him. All three of us were strangers but we are all Canadians.
"Ma'am, as a Canadian I stand for my anthem, whether it is at a recital, a sporting event, or if someone is humming it on a bus, I am a Canadian, that is my anthem, I will stand. I won't force you to stand, that's your choice, it's a free country"
At that point she stormed off in disgust. I later learned that the boy is a recent immigrant to Canada and had chosen our anthem as his piece in honour of his new home. Sitting was not an option.
So there you have it, that's me,
the troublemaker.