Wisdom to me isn't an answer anyway.
Wisdom is a question.
It's like your mother saying,
"Where have you been to this time of night?"
The question was the answer; she didn't want you to tell her.
Wisdom is about experience which hopefully
would include risk taking and being somewhat adventurous.
It is more blessed to give than to receive
because in giving, although it doesn't seem so,
you receive.
You don't stop doing things because you get old.
You get old because you stop doing things.
I get sillier as I get older.
So I don't know what wisdom means.
It's awfully sad, that with our clever brain,
capable of taking us to the moon,
that we seem to have lost wisdom.
And that is the wisdom of the indigenous people,
who would make a major decision based on
"How will this decision affect our people 7 generations ahead?"
It's not about brains.
It's not about the accumulation of knowledge.
It's about being decent.
Nobody can teach me who I am.
You can describe parts of me,
but who I am, and what I need;
these are things I have to find out myself.
It's a play, isn't it? You know you've got to get through
the third act. And you've got to finish as strong as you began.
And if that's the proposition then... get to work.
I think the happiest way of life is to be developing
or making things.
Your best work is your expression of yourself.
Now you may not be the greatest at it,
but when you do it, you're the only expert.
You can't get to wonderful without passing through alright.
You can't skip "not being able to function" all the way over
to "running the whole show".
And if you happen to have talent,
then you take that technique somewhere with that talent,
and you create new things.
There is no way that we can escape ourselves.
If I give you a recipe and I give 5 different people a recipe
I will have 5 different dish on the table.
One of the reasons I haven't slipped into some sort of retirement is I always feel like I'm learning something new,
all the time.
I always thought that inspiration is for amateurs.
The rest of us just show up and get to work.
If you wait around for the clouds to part
and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain,
you're not gonna make an awful lot of work.
If you're ever going to create a peaceful world,
you're going to have to ask, "What is it possible for the other
fellow to do?"
If you believe in the law, it applies to everyone.
Once you say it doesn't apply to one person,
or to a group of people, you're really saying,
"Well, I don't believe the rule of law".
When you look at conflict, no matter where it exists,
It's about difference; difference of
race, religion, of nationality.
The answer to difference is to respect it, not to fight about it.
If a sovereign does not take care of his or her people
then the international community has a responsibility to protect.
You can't control people by fear because the ultimate,
ultimate essence is constantly craving dignity.
That the human dignity has a need for dignity,
just like.... like water, like air.
You don't have to be rich, and you don't have to be an army.
If you find yourself in a situation that needs to be changed,
If you're willing to offer your life for it,
you might actually get something done.
I was in the Air Force awhile,
and they have what they call "policing the area".
And that's where you looked around, if anything was wrong.
You took care of your own area.
If everyone just takes care of their own area
then we won't have any problems.
It's not just policing your own area,
'cuz that can turn into it's own ego trip
"Look at me! I'm doing something for the environment!"
Rather than saying it's something I have
to do, because it's necessary.
You don't have to be a United States Senator to make a difference.
Nurses make a difference.
Policemen make a difference.
People who work with special needs children make a difference.
I don't know if political change... can affect that much.
The change has to be in the heart.
Love something.
I think we've got to learn to love something deeply.
I think it's love. It sounds sentimental as hell,
but I really think it is.
I think that love is the most important thing.
Life is not perfect. It never will be.
You just have to make the very best of it.
And you have to open your heart to what the world can show you.
And sometimes its terrifying,
and sometimes its incredibly beautiful.
And I'll take both, thanks.
Captioned by Jeff