All Under One Sun
As the sun shone bright a couple of weeks ago, a Ukrainian woman boarded a streetcar at Spadina station. She started to sing, what I can only believe to be, the Ukranian national anthem at the top of her lungs. As the streetcar passed through U of T campus, Kensington Market, Chinatown, finally ending at Queens Quay, I thought to myself, what a wonderfully accepting city Toronto is for openly letting this woman sing, in her native tongue.
It's a testamant to the multiculturalism that this city possess on the most subtle level. She was proud, albeit crazy, but proud to be herself. Proud to be Ukranian.
Despite the disruptive behaviour, no one bothered her. Some people actually spoke and carried conversation with her in between verses. One gentleman mentioned he was Slovak and talked with her about the home country. A few seats in front, a lady talked loudly on her cellphone in distinctive ghetto slang. In the back of the streetcar, a cacophony of Vietnamese, English, Cantonese and Ethiopian was heard.
Everyone in their own world, yet still on the same streetcar. I could've been anywhere too: a restaurant, a subway car, a bus, on the street. No matter where anyone turns, there is always some influx of culture.
It's like all our communities, ethnic or underground, are all pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. While the colours may clash, the pieces still fit and are all a part of the big picture that is Toronto.
It feels accepting ... it feels warm ... it feels like home.
As the streetcar turned onto Queens Quay, she then kicked into her rendition of, "You are my sunshine."
Indeed, Toronto, you are my sunshine ... my only sunshine.
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