Warren, on the difference between pessimism and realism.

Question: Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic

Warren: Well Rick would say I’m a pessimist. I would say I’m a realist. I think there’s a great distinction between pessimism and realism. I think that, again, in very much the same way I see a lot of things, I think left to ourselves we are making a mess of things. I think that when people, especially the faith community, comes to the table and says, “We have a responsibility for these global issues. These are not things we can leave to politicians. These are not things that we can just let businesses deal with, but these are things that we must become engaged with.” Then I think that we can make a significant difference in every one of those things – in poverty, in disease, literacy, corruption – the things that really tear at the fabric of our lives. So I’m optimistic because I see more and more people looking at it through that lens. And I think as we do that, we can . . . we literally can change the world.

Recorded on: 12/11/07