There’s something so alluring about his perception of the world. It’s hopeful as well as cynical and maybe sometimes bitter, too. It’s the down part that makes the up part so beautiful to me; it makes it realistic. It makes the hopefulness intelligent and considered. It fills me with hope that the world can be good, if it can be good in his eyes.

He said he was let down by others often, like I am, and saw from a distance where others were going wrong. He thought to himself that he knew that they needed to work on themselves, instead of looking to blame others for the perceived slight against them.

I wondered then whether it was lonely in his world, viewing others in that way. I wondered if there was anyone he knew that had ever walked along beside him seeing others with open eyes like his. I wondered if he’d ever let someone in enough to walk alongside him. I wondered if I might be that person one day.