"Conviction don't mean I'm right. Conviction just means I think I'm right," he says, grinning before he takes another drag. But the he settles into that somber tone again.

"I'm an extremist. I know that about myself, and I wish I weren't, but ain't many people going to knuckle down as hard as I do about these things and that's-"

It's not fine. But it's normal.

"-to be expected. Like you said, most people ain't got much juice left for decisions."

He exhales his last drag and smears out the ember of his cigarette butt between his palms, shielded by the fingerless gloves he wears. He tucks it into his jeans pocket, not wanting to litter.

"That's one of the ways that makes choosing mercy a bit easier, though. Remembering that don't no one ever got enough resources or juice to make all the choices they want to make all the time, and that they might could not even realize how misguided they are when they act in a way you want to retaliate against. Anger - anger's defensive. It locks us into just thinking about ourselves and our needs and what we want, instead of seeing what's happening from a different perspective. It's like...it's an inflammatory response. Like swelling in the body. That's how I see it."