"How much are muskets going for these days?"

America loves lung cancer awareness!
Well, they do on the 4th of July, anyway.

On Saturday, I marched in the Chelmsford, MA July 4th parade with the National Lung Cancer Partnership - and what a different reception we got there than at the Health and Fitness Expo! They loved us!

They clapped and cheered as we walked by with our banners and leaflets, just as if we'd been a marching band or a group of Revolutionary War re-enactors. Unlike most other marchers, we didn't even throw free candy to the crowd and they still loved us!

I think the weather had something to do with it, but we were also the only cancer advocacy group marching, so people didn't seem to mind reading our leaflets and learning about our cause. Their hearts and minds were open, their faces were smiling, and it was a pleasure to march along in the name of lung cancer awareness.

It was a pretty awesome parade, and I recommend it to any paradophiles. There are several local re-enactment fife and drum bands, mostly from the Lexington and Concord areas, which are also known as the seat of the American Revolution.

On the bus to the start line, we were crammed in with assorted other parade participants and I heard all kinds of interesting chatter. My favorite line was from a former re-enactor who's now a Knights of Columbus member to a man dressed in full Colonial Minuteman garb: "So, how much are muskets going for these days?" he asked, wistfully.

All in all, it was a great experience and I commend Suzanne Dahlberg for coming up with the idea. It was free and easy grassroots advocacy in action. Can't think of a better way to celebrate my freedom than by working towards freedom from lung cancer.