Andrew Nickes, a young person, asked Warren Buffett at a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting:
If you had one more day with Charlie [Munger], what would you do with him?
Buffett responds with his thoughts on Charlie — how they are similar and different. He then goes on to say that at 99.9, the world desired an opportunity to meet and know him. But, if you asked Charlie who he wants to have dinner with, Charlie would respond — he’s met them all. Charlie, famously, read tons of books and considered reading books a form of “spending time” with the author.
Warren then suggested to Andrew that he should decide who he wants to get to know, and then don’t wait until the last day, start tomorrow to get to know that person, and get to know that person every day after.
We don’t know the day or the hour that our last moments will arrive. It makes no sense to wait until that moment to begin to learn about our world and others. I agree with Warren, why wait… just start.
Fascinating response all around.