I sat down with one of our homeless guys at the meal program. He lives outdoors no matter what the climate and has skin tanned by the elements into a deep leathery brown. He is also eternally happy and optimistic. Wondering about this - his never ending happiness and politeness while having chosen such a difficult way of life - I asked him if he had any wisdom to share. 

I've done this before and sometimes it results in a really wonderful conversation that restores your faith in the 'goodness' inherent in everyone. At other times, however, you spend half an hour listening to talk of out of body experiences, trading experiences like playing cards in the afterlife and energy that radiates from everyone, energy from which the entire future of the universe can be ascertained. Trust me, you do not want to find yourself in one of those conversations without a plausible exit strategy.

In my case it was, "Oh - have to go! Got to get dinner on!"