I stumbled upon Nathan panhandling while walking around Chinatown. He held a sign stating that he had diabetes and was homeless. I asked him if I could sit down to chat and offered him a cigarette, he responded with a big grin and an enthusiastic “of course!” He told me of coming from North Carolina where panhandling required a permit and how he received seven fines over time for not having one. He spoke of a hole in his foot that got infected and sent him to the hospital for three days. He had been homeless since he was a child and had experienced many heartbreaks in life. And yet he maintained such unbridled optimism and left me with these profound words.

“I was homeless in Virginia since I was 13. But when you walk everywhere you see so much more than when you drive. I’ve seen so many beautiful things. People think you’re homeless, you don’t see anything. But I’ve seen so much beauty.”