A teacher was fond of asking students in his counseling classes this question: "What can you know about a perfect stranger the moment you meet?" After the students had a go at the question, the professor shared his own answer, "You can bet that the stranger has just lost something." That person has just lost a job, a promotion, a loved one, a home, a car, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, their health, their zest for living, or God forbid, the very desire to live. Whatever it is, you can bet your life on it. The stranger before you has just lost something.

When you just heard that, your reaction may have been like mine. I thought to myself, surely that is too pessimistic a way to look at life. Surely, some of those strangers out there must have just found something. Surely, some of them are rejo…