a city's old people

Old people are a window to a society's not so apparent ways of life. Happy old people tell a story of a society that makes it possible to still be happy, long after your traditional productiveness has gone, and in this case, story of a people who grew up with grand parents who witnessed the Chinatown riots of Vancouver in 1907, great grand parents who witnessed the 1887 Chinatown riots - so grew up possibly with some anti-Asian sentiments themselves. But today they are standing here, in my West End neighborhood's heritage art walking tour - singing away sultry Ella Fitzgerald hits and hitting on men 30years their junior. Most ciites have a racist past, some a racist present; Vancouver's was against the Asians, that didn't really end until about 10 years ago, when the city actually took pictures of subtle acts of racism and put them on billboards so everyone can see them and be ashamed of. So if people growing up and growing old in such an environment can become open minded enough to be singing sultry songs and daintily hitting on a West Coast hippie, I think I can definitely grow old here; not that I want to be daintily hitting on a West Coast hippie, but you know what I mean - it does reflect a certain open mindedness. Standing in the hot sun, I watched them coo away , tears rolling down my cheeks at the possibility of a home… Ah only if Vancouver didn't get that much rain…