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  • >>Adam Braun: With this renewed sense of purpose, I went out into the developing world. We got

  • shipwrecked, and then we continued to travel. I had a habit of asking one kid per country

  • what they wanted most in the world, expecting to hear a Playstation, a flat screen TV, all

  • the things that we take for granted. I asked a young girl in Hawaii where we were shipwrecked

  • -- again, a terrible place to get shipwrecked, Hawaii. I said, "What do you want most in

  • the world?" This young beautiful young girl said, "To dance."

  • Then I asked a girl in China. I said, "What do you want most in the world?" She said,

  • "A book." And then I got to Hong Kong, and I heard my

  • favorite answer, which was "magic," just magic. By the time I got to India, the reason I went

  • on this trip, the kind of karmic compulsion to go in the first place, I asked this boy

  • begging on the streets where the poverty is overwhelming and you can't give money because

  • it perpetuates this cycle of begging. And, you know, candy works really well. But, as

  • I mentioned, my mother is an orthodontist and my father is a dentist. They'd be very

  • upset with me. I said, "What do you want most in the world" to this young boy. And he looked

  • at me. And he said, "A pencil." That was it. Just a pencil. I had one, and I gave him my

  • pencil. And he lit up completely. And he held it in the air. And there was an instant moment

  • of transformation in me. He went -- this act, two things happened. I realized the incredible

  • power of education in the hands of locals, not just us as westerners kind of imparting

  • our ideals onto others, but the pencil as a tool for empowerment. And, secondly, even

  • as a young person, I could actually help somebody in a meaningful way. It wasn't just about,

  • you know, the select few. The creation of good is a space that should be accessible

  • to all.

>>Adam Braun: With this renewed sense of purpose, I went out into the developing world. We got

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