We drove down to 6th Street, and I nodded to a group of men sitting on the sidewalk and told him to ask them about their lives. Then I watched as he nervously approached one guy and stumbled through a conversation. I was pleasantly surprised that he ended up talking for longer than I expected before coming back to me.

“So?”

“He’s a vet.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And he said the government got him addicted and he can’t shake the habit.”

“Uh-huh.”

“And he doesn’t know what he should do to get a job because no one will ever talk to him.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I didn’t think…. He’s not doing so well…”

I let him trail off as we got back into the car and drove back to the office in silence.