"Gonna be honest... sometimes it feels better when they don't think like that. Means life ain't kicked their ass all that much yet. Whatever people are doin' around 'em is workin'."

Which is how he sees it. How things have played out from his POV, scenes from his reference. People naive and upbeat, needing someone to scare and flog away the bad before it reaches and scorches that life out of 'em.