The look on his face, that’s what caught me by surprise.

It was a fleeting glance I took as I drove by two homeless people near a freeway on-ramp intersection one morning recently. There was a lady bundled up against the early morning cool air; I saw her as I approached.

She seemed to be talking or addressing somebody behind a shopping cart that was packed high with belongings. As I drove past on the way to the on-ramp, I looked over to see who she was addressing; there was a man sitting on the ground, maybe criss-cross applesauce, he looked younger than me, maybe in his 40s, a narrow face, longer, thin hair, maybe brownish, gray, or maybe dirty blonde color, I can’t exactly recall.

He was looking up at her and his expression was one of attentive, listening, relaxed, and quite present. That’s what got me. He seemed quite present and attentive.

From this brief experience, it occurred to me in somehow a fresh and new way, something that I know, intellectually, that all people, of course, even homeless people or otherwise people in a different life situation than I am…

They’re still people, they’re still humans who have all the feelings and all the thoughts and all the sense of decency and awareness of each other.

What a good lesson.