TTC aka Toronto's Talent Community

My subway treck home today was not like any other and I can thank a courageous musician for that.
After fiddling with his tuning keys for 10 minutes because of - what seemed - the desire to be absolutely perfect in what he was about to do...

A green haired young man in a wheelchair with 2 leg casts let out a  <<s c r e e c h i n g  >> chord on his electric guitar and exclaimed: 

"ONE DAY I'M GOING TO BE A FAMOUS MUSICIAN!

I am going to play some songs for you today.

Donations will be kindly accepted either during or after the performance."

He proceeded to explain that his first song was called "Charles Atlas" and after a few moments of some more last minute readjusting, he began to play.

I sat there watching him
and probably was the only one in the cart doing so.
I was so pleased that he decided to act on his confidence despite his condition. As I 
approached my stop, I walked over to him and placed a subway token in his hand and said:

"Here's to doing this again on another subway cart.

Great job, good luck, and keep up the good work!"

I walked off smiling.

I was reminded of a similar experience I had with one of my best friends.
One afternoon, we waltzed on subway carts travelling across the city promoting an upcoming Haiti concert she was organizing. We handed out flyers and asked subway riders to donate online. On every subway cart I walked on singing while playing tambourine hoping that I would grab the attention of at least one person and make their day.

As I watched this green haired Kurt Cobain look alike on the subway, I was sure that he had a similar desire. Maybe if I didn't have the experience to share with him, I would have handled the situation differently and avoided him along with everyone else.

This subway performance served as an enlightening experience different from my normal. dozzzzing off. bored. half hour daily rides. I hope one day he really does become a famous musician. But for now i'm happy to say that he was one today.

I support courageousness.
I support spontaneity.
I support talent and I support art.
I urge you all to do the same.
I made sure that he knew he was a somebody in my world.


Today I was part of a wonderful wheel of happiness.