Although he would seem to have little to give, he gives the gift of a smile to many. He has the right attitude. Never give up hope.

Although he would seem to have little to give, he gives the gift of a smile to many. He has the right attitude. Never give up hope.

Although he would seem to have little to give, he gives the gift of a smile to many. He has the right attitude. Never give up hope.

The man needs a decent set of teeth, a pantry full of groceries and a reliable maid who stops by once a month.

I'll donate a $100 bucks if you start passing the collection plate, Gerard.

Honestly, I found his delusional optimism and willingness to make a public spectacle of himself in order to earn a few bucks and alleviate chronic loneliness rather sad.

It sucks to be old, poor and alone.

The man needs a decent set of teeth, a pantry full of groceries and a reliable maid who stops by once a month.

I'll donate a $100 bucks if you start passing the collection plate, Gerard.

Honestly, I found his delusional optimism and willingness to make a public spectacle of himself in order to earn a few bucks and alleviate chronic loneliness rather sad.

It sucks to be old, poor and alone.

The man needs a decent set of teeth, a pantry full of groceries and a reliable maid who stops by once a month.

I'll donate a $100 bucks if you start passing the collection plate, Gerard.

Honestly, I found his delusional optimism and willingness to make a public spectacle of himself in order to earn a few bucks and alleviate chronic loneliness rather sad.

It sucks to be old, poor and alone.

He may be delusional, but his time left is short. He may be lonely, but he lights up the space wherever he moves.

What really sucks is to be young and gloomy, full of indoctrinated doom and feeling alone in a crowd of equally pessimistic doomsayers.

Sometimes you work with what you got and do the best you can.

Honestly, I found his delusional optimism and willingness to make a public spectacle of himself in order to earn a few bucks and alleviate chronic loneliness rather sad.

I dunno, lady. That's pretty harsh, if you ask me.

What I see is that he's 15 years older than me, and a lot younger; also, he spends his days around a lot more people than I do, and trades smiles and makes lives better, so.....Looks to me like he's got a pretty good attitude about his life, he looks healthy as hell, and he's still going, which is all we can any of us ever hope for. If you want to see "chronic loneliness," spend some time around old folks homes and "senior communities." The infantilisation and assaults on dignity are the real horror story, and the great majority of people in that situation have never had a day when they felt as good as this guy.

I've always made strong distinctions between solitude and loneliness, so maybe that's just me. But after trying without success to be a husband and a father and just one of the gang my whole life, I've about defaulted to wanting to be just like him if I grow up.

And I'm still here.

A follow up story about his days notes that he recently got a $3,000 grant from a fellow along with other gifts to help him out.

Daphne, in a world where everyone dies, ALL optimism is delusional.

People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. The happiest ones, the fanatically happy are truly "touched by God."

Besides, if we didn't have low I.Q. folks with aspirations, there'd be no Hollywood. Or YouTube.

Joan,
I think you got it right with your "touched by God" comment.