As I got off the bus today, I saw a guy in his early twenties pacing in excitement at the corner of 23rd/Mission—low riding baggy pants and hood. His white headphones swung as he talked into the phone, not looking at anything in particular.

“And then I said…’What would you say if I asked you out?” he was smiling. “She said, ‘You’re very sweet and I would say yes.'”

His happiness was infectious and I couldn’t help but smile in the darkness, lit by the dim street lights. At the same time, I wondered why our own cowardice keep us from saying things that we really meant until it’s too late.