WEBVTT - Maria Shriver on saving America's men, & a return to American optimism 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:04.640 Thanks for listening. For earlier access to these episodes, access 0:00:04.680 --> 0:00:08.160 to Ask Me Anything sessions, and extended breakdowns of historical 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.760 and current events, please consider joining our Warning Premium community 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:19.760 by clicking the link in the description to this episode. 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.840 I am very pleased today to be joined by my 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:28.680 very good friend Maria Shriver, who is an exceptional person 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:33.080 in more ways than one. I always tell people when 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:37.040 they ask me, who are the most exceptional people you've 0:00:37.080 --> 0:00:40.080 met in your career? Maria is always at the top 0:00:40.120 --> 0:00:43.880 of my list, one of the I always say ten 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:48.839 smartest people, hands down. I've ever met a brilliant person, 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:53.400 kind person, and someone who has a very optimistic and 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.320 unique perspective I think in a very troubled time. And 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:02.920 your Sunday paper, which is read by me and hundreds 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.760 of thousands each Sunday, you had a column which really 0:01:07.720 --> 0:01:12.160 struck me because you use the phrase that I use 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:16.920 a lot, and I'm very aware of people using around 0:01:17.000 --> 0:01:20.840 me all the time, and it was not a phrase 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:28.160 that I have any consciousness really of living with, thinking 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.920 about even five years ago or ten years ago, and 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:37.480 it's not colloquial to my childhood, to my region, and 0:01:37.600 --> 0:01:43.000 the phrases it's a lot. And the notion of your 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:48.840 piece is that there are all over America people dealing 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:54.520 with a multitude of difficult issues and that there's this 0:01:54.680 --> 0:02:02.520 consensus in so many people around it's a lot. What 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:04.320 does that mean? It's a lot? 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:07.920 Okay, Well, before I answer that, Steve, let me just 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:10.440 say first, I'm happy to be here, but I want 0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:12.720 to know who the other nine people are on the 0:02:12.840 --> 0:02:16.720 ten that you said. I'm one of the ten smartest people. 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:18.919 So who are the other time I want, I. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:20.560 Will say, I will, I will tell you the people 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.119 that I always say that just immediately as I as 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.160 I flesh this out, because you know, I've met I've 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.960 met a lot of people in my in my career, 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:34.160 in life. You are you are, hands down on that list. 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:41.240 I put the Chief Justice John roberts Is immediately, you know, 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:44.240 kind of comes to mind on that on that list, 0:02:44.720 --> 0:02:49.040 and there are a handful of other people. But I'm 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.519 not I'm not on the list, Maria, but I'm smart 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.920 enough not to try to name that list of people, 0:02:55.400 --> 0:02:57.720 particularly in front of one of the ten people. 0:02:58.240 --> 0:03:00.480 Okay, So do you are there any qualities they get 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:02.440 you on the list and get you off the list. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:06.320 Are there anything I do say I do say all 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.320 the time, is that you have a way of seeing 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:15.160 the world that is unique, that is broad and visionary. 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:17.680 And I think, you know, I've worked with all the 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:22.760 best political consultants, certainly in the Republican Party. I was 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:28.640 involved in democratic politics per se through the Lincoln Project. 0:03:28.720 --> 0:03:33.000 I know all the democratic strategists. I you know, ran 0:03:33.120 --> 0:03:36.560 a political campaign with you, and it would not have 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:40.480 won without you. And you're a brilliant political strategist, one 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.360 of the very finest, you know, I've ever known. But 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.000 more broadly than that, I think in the culture, what 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:54.080 you appreciate is that politics is downrange, down river from 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:59.040 our culture, and that we talk about politics as if 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:03.760 it's on an island and isolated apart from or the headwaters. 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:07.800 And it's not. And it's such an obvious and intuitive thing. 0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:13.400 But most people are completely divorced from this. You're not. Now, 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:18.000 I've always thought that that makes you really unique in 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:20.800 the constellation of people that you sit around at table 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:25.400 with and you have these discussions about what should the 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.680 message be to a state of forty million people or 0:04:28.760 --> 0:04:32.080 to a nation of three hundred and thirty million people. 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:38.640 Is the entire premise that there's common interest a fallacy, 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.960 Is it an illusion? Is it a dellusion? And I 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:47.440 think that the ability to find common interest through a 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:53.680 set of values without anger, rancor or judgmentalism is an 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:57.599 exceptional skill. And for example, when you were First Lady 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:04.760 in California or your women's conferences, were these enormous events, 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:10.760 overflowing and thousands of people wanting to go to these 0:05:10.920 --> 0:05:13.960 and it was because you were able to inspire. And 0:05:14.000 --> 0:05:17.599 it's a rare quality to see any person you know 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:20.200 do that, but to see a friend do it up close, 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.200 it's a real part of so that I have a 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:25.120 lot of gratitude for in my life. 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.480 Thank you, Steve. And well, as you well know, I 0:05:28.520 --> 0:05:31.880 grew up in a political family, and so I was 0:05:31.960 --> 0:05:35.880 always had my ear to the ground about politics, and 0:05:35.920 --> 0:05:39.200 then went into journalism and so covered politics from a 0:05:39.240 --> 0:05:42.600 different point of view. But I've always felt that there 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:45.359 actually is a lot that brings us together that we 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:48.279 do have in common. And I've spent a lot of 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.680 time talking about the American family, about women in particular, 0:05:52.800 --> 0:05:56.080 women who work, women who provide, women who take care 0:05:56.120 --> 0:06:01.120 of aging parents, women who are parenteing, how does the 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.440 work structure, how does government deal with that, how do 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:08.480 workplaces deal with that? How do we talk about this 0:06:08.600 --> 0:06:12.760 whole part of the population in a different way than 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:15.120 we'd been talking about it in the past. That's something 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.640 that was very important to me as first Lady of California, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.760 because California has more women in it than any other state, 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:29.000 and there's California Sirens, but more women business owners, more 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:34.480 women who are providing partnering, and certainly as an Alzheimer's advocate, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.560 I've seen millions of people in the caregiving space that 0:06:39.760 --> 0:06:42.159 cuts across gender as well, and I see a lot 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:44.359 of issues that I don't think a lot of political 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:47.600 leaders are talking about. I don't see a lot of 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.159 political leaders talking about the caregiving crisis in our country today. 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.080 And I think that's something that brings people of all 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:58.040 political parties together, all walks of life together, because everybody's 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:01.479 dealing with how do we care for aging parents? How 0:07:01.480 --> 0:07:05.520 do we what are our character what is our character 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:08.320 around that? What are our values around that? How do 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:11.360 we raise up a generation that wants to care for 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:14.280 aging parents? So I think there are a lot of 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:18.120 things that we do have in common that where politics is, 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:21.800 you know, not in the conversation, but as a means 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:25.040 by how we can make the conversation better. So at 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:29.400 my dinner table, there are people of different political persuasions 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.600 who talk about gun reform, who talk about immigration, who 0:07:33.640 --> 0:07:36.920 talk about caregiving, who talk about child rearing, who talk 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:41.600 about flexible work hours, who talk about wanting to learn 0:07:41.600 --> 0:07:46.520 how to converse in a calm, compassionate way, who talk 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:50.080 about having a lot on their plate, but also wanting 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:54.240 to be the kinds of people that bring about change 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.480 in a positive way in our country. And I think 0:07:57.480 --> 0:08:00.280 I think people from what I've been able to kind 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:05.080 of here in the zeitgeists, people want leaders that raise 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:09.040 them up, that point to where we're going in an 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:15.520 aspirational way, that use language that brings people together. That's realistic, 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:19.000 but that's not about just attacking one another. But that's 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.040 about finding things that we have in common. And I 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.280 do believe we have so much more in common than 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:25.200 we're led to believe. 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:32.040 Why do you think they're such a polarization in the 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:39.600 culture in so many incentives towards division as opposed to unity, 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:44.320 when one is obviously so much better than the other. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:50.960 Right for the future of our children, our grandchildren. I 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:53.960 was always struck by John Lewis. He said, you know, 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:58.360 no matter what ship we arrived on in this country, 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:01.640 how we got here, and he was the descendant of 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:07.199 African slaves. We're all in the same boat. Now, how 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:08.240 do you think about that? 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:10.679 Well, I think a lot of people don't feel we're 0:09:10.679 --> 0:09:13.880 in the same boat. They think like, well, what boat 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:15.640 is that? And I'm not in the same boat as 0:09:15.679 --> 0:09:17.560 John Lewis, And I'm not in the same boat as 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.600 Maria Schreiver or Steve Schmidt. And then I think when 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:24.280 you kind of one thing I've learned through therapy is 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:26.800 to ask people okay, well tell me more about why 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.040 you feel like that, and then to keep going beneath 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.160 the layer of the conversation. And that I find that 0:09:34.880 --> 0:09:37.400 when we get below all of that, people go, oh, 0:09:37.440 --> 0:09:39.640 I didn't realize that we actually kind of are in 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.360 the same boat. But I think kind of backing up, 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.000 how we got where we are is a long story. 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:47.000 I think the media has played a role in that. 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.880 I think politics has always been about the fight. It 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:56.600 has been negative, it has been you know, ugly in 0:09:56.640 --> 0:09:59.040 many ways for a really long time. And I think 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.720 that's what when people think about politics, they think about that. 0:10:02.760 --> 0:10:05.680 They think about people yelling at each other, attacking each other, 0:10:05.840 --> 0:10:08.760 negative ops about each other. They think about how to 0:10:08.800 --> 0:10:11.160 attack the other person, how to put them in the 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.120 worst possible light. And I think we've got to change that. 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:18.520 I think, you know, political strategists have to be a 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.000 part of changing that. Media people have to be a 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:23.880 part of changing that. I think social media has played 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.000 a role in letting the negativity rise to the top. 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:29.880 People talking to each other on social media in ways 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:33.800 that you would never talk to a person at a 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:37.120 dining room table. You'd be putting a time out. And 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:39.880 I grew up at a table when people sat at 0:10:39.920 --> 0:10:42.480 the table with different political parties. My mother was a 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.000 big pro lifer. She brought people to the table who 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.440 worked in Republican politics. She was an avid Democrat. My 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.280 dad was very religious. They had people from all different faiths, 0:10:53.440 --> 0:10:57.360 all different genders, all different skin colors at the table, 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.400 and people were respectful the way they spoke to one another. 0:11:01.040 --> 0:11:04.280 There was never name calling. It was just unheard of 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:07.120 to have the kind of dialogue that we see now 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:10.120 on social media at the table or in the conversation. 0:11:11.679 --> 0:11:14.400 So I sound kind of old fashioned saying that people 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:19.480 were better mannered or that they spoke in a different 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:21.600 way to one another, And I think we can get 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:24.040 back to that place. I think that starts in our 0:11:24.040 --> 0:11:28.080 own homes. I think that starts by how the media 0:11:28.120 --> 0:11:33.080 that we consume, how we behave on social media, ourselves, 0:11:33.120 --> 0:11:35.320 and I think it goes out from there. It's a 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:39.439 much deeper conversation. I know the algorithm rewards the kind 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.720 of negativity and all of that, but I do think 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:47.120 that people feel coming back to your original question, Look, 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:49.480 I've got a lot on my plate. I'm taking care 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.160 of aging parents, I'm going through my savings taking care 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.800 of aging parents. I myself have some health challenges. My 0:11:55.920 --> 0:11:58.240 kids may have health challenges. I may be dealing with 0:11:58.320 --> 0:12:01.440 mental health struggles. There. I'm dealing with maybe one or 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:04.920 two jobs, maybe my husband or myself is out of work. 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.640 There's a lot going on, and people aren't brought up. 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:12.360 They don't feel hopeful when they turn on the news 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.440 or when they turn on social media. So how do 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:17.880 we get people who are dealing with a lot, who 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:22.040 feel despondent, who feel hopeless, who feel really I think unseen, 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:26.280 uncared for and undervalued, and that's certainly been a large 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:30.760 part of the conversations I've had with women over many decades, 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.320 and I think, how do we let people know that 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.640 they are seeing that they are valued, that they're worth it, 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:42.000 that they're cared for. These are very I think humanistic conversations, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:45.760 and that we understand that they're dealing with a lot, 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:48.520 and the role of government is to help them feel 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.600 that it's going to be okay, that they are seeing 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.760 that their future will be better, that there are people 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:58.760 in there of both parties who want to work to 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:01.360 help them. I don't think that's the feeling in our 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:02.240 country today. 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.200 Do you think that when you look at the totality 0:13:06.600 --> 0:13:10.680 of everything, where the where the country is at right 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:17.360 now in that spirit, that people have made a judgment 0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:25.640 and they have simply turned off listening to institutions that 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:30.880 they used to respect, and that there's no hope to 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:37.320 re engage them without first turning back on something at 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:44.120 those institutions that allows those institutions to permeate the wall 0:13:44.200 --> 0:13:49.160 that's been put up to be believed to be trusted. 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:51.520 How do you do that? 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.040 I think that is up to us. We get the 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.480 government that we deserve right that we bring in. I 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:02.839 don't think institutions talk. People talk, people raise people up, 0:14:03.360 --> 0:14:07.920 people engage in conversations with a certain tone. Look at 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:09.800 I grew up wanting to There wasn't a fight that 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:11.959 I didn't want to jump into. I had four brothers. 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.720 I came from a boisterous, Irish Catholic, very competitive family. 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.080 You threw up a fight, I'm all in. Today, I 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.200 kind of step back and I try to listen in 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:26.320 a different way. I try to understand in a different way. 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:29.920 I don't come into the conversation with like my dukes up. 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.880 I come in trying to understand. I come in without, 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.480 you know, trying to demonize the other. I come in 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.600 trying not to think of a person as the other. 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.080 And I think, if we all not, you know that 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:42.960 this is that I'm doing it the right way. But 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:46.600 I do get different answers. I do get to a 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:50.080 different place when I listen more attentively to people, when 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:54.080 I'm more considerate of where they've come from and where 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:58.440 they're going. And I think that I can hear people 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.600 differently when they're not screaming at me, and when they're 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:04.000 not yelling, and when they're not just telling me how 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:08.000 terrible everything is. I think, look at universally, people are 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:12.320 concerned about the economy. They always have been, right. They 0:15:12.360 --> 0:15:14.840 want to be able to provide for their families. They 0:15:14.880 --> 0:15:17.040 want to be able to send their kids to school, 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:18.880 they want to be able to send their kids to 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:23.280 a safe school. Right, the economy is important. I think 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.120 democracy is important. I just came back from the International 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.080 Special Olympics. There were one hundred and eighty countries in Berlin, 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.680 and I talked over a period of a week to 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.880 people from all different countries, and the universal thing was like, 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:41.240 you guys, you in America, come on, you've got to 0:15:41.280 --> 0:15:44.680 stay this beacon of hope. You're the democracy we look to. 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.720 You've got to get it together. You've got to be 0:15:48.760 --> 0:15:51.000 able to shine the light. You've got to be able 0:15:51.040 --> 0:15:53.560 to rise above the noise. You're going to be okay. Right, 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:58.680 there's this like hope that we can continue to stand 0:15:58.720 --> 0:16:00.960 for what we've always stood for. So I think our 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:04.960 democracy is certainly very important, and it's it's part of 0:16:05.000 --> 0:16:09.160 our identity, right, and it's a great part of our identity. 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:11.720 So people, I think, you know, when you talk about 0:16:11.720 --> 0:16:14.000 what unites this I think who doesn't want to send 0:16:14.040 --> 0:16:16.800 their child to a safe school, who doesn't want to 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:20.560 be able to provide for their family, who doesn't want 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.080 to be able to take care of their parents right 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:27.200 and without going broke themselves right, Who doesn't want to 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:31.960 work for somebody that's flexible with their you know, the 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:35.520 challenges they have in the workplace. There's a big, big 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.640 thing of mine, you know, kind of to talk about 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.440 flexible hours, flexible work time for women, you know who 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.200 are raising kids, who doesn't benefit from having family leave. 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:49.800 There's so many things that we have in common. So 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.440 I'm very hopeful. I don't think that's naive. I'm hopeful 0:16:53.440 --> 0:16:57.680 about our country. I'm hopeful because I see the people 0:16:57.880 --> 0:17:00.480 in our country. I see the people they came to 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.040 special Olympics from the United States, cops who took their 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.440 time off, who've raised millions of dollars, who've run across 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.360 the country wanting to be a part of a movement 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:15.840 that moves humanity forward. People who are disable to look 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:18.719 for the best in people, they're out there. We don't 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.439 raise them up. And one of the goals of the 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.520 Sunday Paper, which reaches millions of people every week and 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:28.000 it's doing the best it has ever done. Is because 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:32.119 people want something that raises them up. People tell me, 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.919 I've turned off the news. I come to the Sunday 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:38.119 paper because I want to live my life above the noise. 0:17:38.720 --> 0:17:41.840 I want to be in community with people who are positive, 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.960 who want to be aspirational, who want to be part 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:47.840 of the problem, and who want to give back and 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:49.960 want to make a difference. Who doesn't want to be 0:17:50.000 --> 0:17:50.879 in that community. 0:17:51.600 --> 0:17:56.720 When you think about the Special Olympics, Yeah, let's talk 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.280 about it for a minute. How did it come to be. 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.320 It came to be because, well, it came to be 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:04.880 in our backyard. My mother had a sister with. 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:09.879 In your backyard. Yes, and now an organization think about that, 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:12.960 one hundred and eighty countries. 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.320 Yeah. And not only is it an a program in 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.239 one hundred and eighty countries built by volunteers, mind you, 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.280 it also has a huge healthcare component to it. So 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:27.960 in Berlin, for example, you saw, you know, hundreds and 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:31.840 hundreds of doctors volunteering their time to come and see 0:18:31.880 --> 0:18:34.520 Special Olympic athletes who had never seen a doctor. You 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.520 saw a dentists from all over the world taking their 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:41.960 vacation time to come and look at an athlete's mouth. 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.600 Many of the athletes had never been to a dentist, 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.480 had never been to somebody who checked their hearing, had 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:51.640 never been to somebody who gave them a pair of glasses. 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:55.840 So now Special Olympics is not only the largest organization 0:18:55.960 --> 0:18:58.240 for people with intellectual disabilities in the world as a 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:03.080 sports organization, but also as a healthcare organization as well. 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.639 And that came from my mother and also from my father. 0:19:06.760 --> 0:19:10.680 That came from Democrats and Republicans working together on the Hill. 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:14.200 That came from people who were interested in making sure 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:21.760 people with intellectual disabilities could access housing, school programs, medical programs. 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:26.160 And it was a program and is a program where 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.240 people don't say like I'm a Democrat or Republican, I'm 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.320 not going to help you. It's like, I want to help. 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:34.359 I want to be a part of this. It lifts 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.280 people up, count me in all over the world. So 0:19:38.520 --> 0:19:41.240 that tells me my dad started Special Olympics. I mean 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:44.639 my dad started the Peace Corps. Same concept. People want 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:48.239 to serve. Peace Corps can't handle all the people who 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:50.600 want to be of service today, who want to go 0:19:50.720 --> 0:19:53.960 out and want to do better. There are thousands and 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.040 millions of people like this all over the world, but 0:19:57.119 --> 0:19:59.760 we don't talk enough about them. They don't make the news. 0:20:00.400 --> 0:20:07.399 How important is service and purpose towards the achievement of happiness? 0:20:08.440 --> 0:20:11.280 Well, I think it's it's I think, an integral part 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:15.200 to everybody's life. Why are you here? What is your 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:18.800 purpose in being here? I was raised by two people 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.159 who believed you were brought here to serve. Bar you know, 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:25.800 they didn't have you, there was no excuse, and they 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:27.920 thought you should start serving at four and five years 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:30.720 of age, and everybody who was your friend should also 0:20:30.880 --> 0:20:33.120 serve at four or five six. I was a camp 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:36.240 counselor at Special Olympics when I was six and seven 0:20:36.320 --> 0:20:39.280 years of age. Of course I had no qualifications to 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:43.119 be a camp counselor the camper than I was, but 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.920 my mother put me to work at five and six 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:51.639 years of age because she believed that no matter the age, 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:53.919 we all could make a difference. So I think that 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:58.080 when you look at people who will tell you that 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:01.440 they're happy in their life, they will talk about having 0:21:01.480 --> 0:21:04.320 some kind of spiritual life. They will talk about having 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.040 a life of purpose, a life of mission, a life 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:12.160 of meaning. They will talk about these verticals of their 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:17.240 life as being integral to them living a quote unquote 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.440 happy life. And that is not a life that's devoid 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:23.439 of pain. That is not a life devoid of grief 0:21:23.520 --> 0:21:27.560 or sorrow. That's something I've come to understand that a 0:21:28.200 --> 0:21:31.760 meaningful life, or an authentic life, or a happy life 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:36.760 involves those other things as well. They It involves sorrow, 0:21:37.000 --> 0:21:43.159 it involves incredible sadness, It involves failure, it involves you know, 0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:45.200 being on your back and thinking you're not going to 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:48.160 make it, And it involves joy, and it evolves meaning. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:51.359 I don't think we talk about bad enough actually that 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:56.240 our lives are a mixture of all of those emotions 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.560 and those experiences. So that when you get to my 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.760 a you're older than me, will you will as I 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.080 say to my kids, You're going to have times when 0:22:06.200 --> 0:22:08.919 you know what hits the fan? What do you have 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:13.760 inside you that will help you get through those moments. 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:16.359 Do you have friends who will walk alongside you, who 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.240 will get in the foxhole with you? Do you have 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:24.639 a relationship with a higher power? Do you have something 0:22:24.680 --> 0:22:26.880 to get up for in the morning. I think all 0:22:26.920 --> 0:22:31.160 of these things are important in our kind of long life, 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:32.640 if we're lucky enough to have one. 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:36.399 I think what resonates for me when I listen to 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:39.720 you say that is you can read when you're younger 0:22:40.680 --> 0:22:46.120 there's a time for all things under heaven. But then 0:22:46.160 --> 0:22:50.640 you experience those things, yeah, reading about them and experience 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:55.240 and the consciousness of being in the middle of them, 0:22:55.840 --> 0:23:01.880 times of testing, times of real grief and sadness that 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:09.440 you think there's no way out from. And there is 0:23:11.440 --> 0:23:22.040 talk about resiliency as a quality that's necessary in life, 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.600 that's going to be called on over and over again. 0:23:25.720 --> 0:23:26.840 How important is that? 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:31.000 Well, I think it's critical. I think you know, as 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:34.040 I try to say to my kids, no one, no 0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:37.720 one has a life devoid of pain. No one has 0:23:37.720 --> 0:23:42.360 a life devoid of suffering. And therefore, how do we, 0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:47.080 you know, handle those moments? And do we have what's 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:50.880 within us? Do we have the intestinal or internal fortitude 0:23:51.359 --> 0:23:55.680 to keep going when our back is up against the wall. 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.080 So you may lose a job, you may get divorced, 0:23:59.240 --> 0:24:02.879 you may find yourself, you may lose a child. There's 0:24:02.960 --> 0:24:06.280 all of these. I saw that you talked to Fred Gutenberg, 0:24:06.359 --> 0:24:09.000 you know who lost a child, who found himself. I'm sure, 0:24:10.080 --> 0:24:15.000 and continues to find himself in depths of despair, depths 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:18.360 of depression, depths of not wanting to go on, And 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:21.159 so we all have to dig in and say, like, 0:24:21.400 --> 0:24:24.239 I've got to go on, I've got to continue. I 0:24:24.320 --> 0:24:26.480 need help. I think what these are one of the 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:29.520 things you know that you learn as a grown up, Right, 0:24:29.640 --> 0:24:33.200 You've got to be able to ask for help and 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:36.639 not think that you're so competent that you don't need help. 0:24:36.720 --> 0:24:39.840 I've found that in my own life. I've had to 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.440 ask for help. I've been on the ground. I didn't 0:24:42.440 --> 0:24:44.560 think I would go forward. I didn't know where I 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:47.760 was going. I had to rebuild my life. And so 0:24:47.880 --> 0:24:50.800 I think that. And it's also not a competition whose 0:24:50.920 --> 0:24:54.720