It was the kind of moment with the potential to become the stuff of grown up nightmares. Elizabeth Hughes, age eight, was going a great job singing the national anthem at an AHL Norfolk Admirals hockey game last Friday night. She was nervous, but she has a beautiful voice and she was doing herself proud in her performing debut.
And then the microphone gave out.
Little Elizabeth has a great voice, but nothing close to the lung capacity to fill a stadium. It might have ended in tears for the little girl if the rest of the audience had taken their cue from the woman who can be heard laughing at Elizabeth’s consternation when the sound cut out, but they didn’t. With almost no hesitation, the entire stadium took up the anthem where Elizabeth had been cut off, including the hockey teams. Elizabeth took her cue and sang along, finishing the song with the triumphant swell of hundred’s of voices, rather than electronic amplification to back her up. If only we were always this supportive of our fellow human beings!
