Elie Wiesel Interview (page: 4 / 4) Nobel Prize for Peace	Print Interview

What personal characteristics are most important for young people to have in mind as they look toward their futures and their careers?

Elie Wiesel: What I say, of course, applies to all since I don't know the individual component of that group you are trying to refer to.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I would say, favor the question, always question. Do not accept answers as definitive. Answers change. Questions don't. Always question those who are certain of what they are saying. Always favor the person who is tolerant enough to understand that there are no absolute answers, but there are absolute questions.

If you were going to recommend books...

Elie Wiesel: Don't ask. I wouldn't recommend mine because it would be vanity. Were I to recommend others, those I'm not recommending would be angry.

I would certainly say to read the classics. I like to re-read the classics. The Bible, naturally, then the religious texts, the Hindu texts. The Upanishads and the Vedas are great, great books. Then go to the Greeks. And The Song of Gilgamesh, These are extraordinary books, even to this day. Read and read and read, but mainly read those who have survived the centuries.

What would you say the American Dream means to you?"

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Elie Wiesel: Equality in diversity. That no group should be superior in the American society than another. Second, generosity. The person who is fortunate --thanks to his or her talent or heritage, to have more than others -- that person should know that he or she owes something to others who are less fortunate. Third, that every minute can be the beginning or the end of an adventure.

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

As we approach the 21st Century, what do you see as the greatest challenges in front of us?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Elie Wiesel: Fanaticism. If there is one word that comprises all of these threats, it is fanaticism. For some strange reason, it is growing everywhere, in every religion: in Islam, in Christianity, in Judaism. Why now? Haven't we seen really fanaticism is dangerous as an idea, because it carries poison? Furthermore, in politics, imagine a fanatic with power. May I go one step further? Imagine a fanatic with nuclear power. Do you have any doubt that if Idi Amin, in Uganda 20 years ago, before he was thrown out, that would have used a weapon if he had one? Or a Khadafi now, in Libya? It is dangerous. A fanatic therefore, must be unmasked first, and then disarmed.

Is there anything that you have thought about doing that you haven't been able to do yet?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Elie Wiesel: I may seem silly or childish to you, but if could bring back one child, I would give up anything I have. Just one child. If I could now -- which is more possible -- to free one prisoner, I would give a lot. If I could give a feeling of solidarity to a person who is abandoned, I would still give a lot. So you see, I would like to do things that I cannot do. All I have is a few words, and I will give these words. That's what I am trying to do.

What is your hope for this generation that follows us?

Elie Wiesel: I would not want my past to become their future.

You have seen and experienced many atrocities throughout your life's experiences. How can someone live a good life after experiencing tragedy and suffering?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Elie Wiesel: In spite of what I have seen in my life, observed of the Jews, I agree with Albert Camus, whose work I always love to read and teach. At the end of his novel, The Plague, which is a desperate and despairing novel, he says, more or less, "There is more to celebrate than to denigrate in man."

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Elie Wiesel Interview, Page: 1   2   3   4