- on this "my generation," the ways of wisdom. he's known for being an all-star basketball player. - i can do more than stuff a ball through a hoop. - now kareem abdul-jabbar is using his wisdom off the court to highlight a hidden history. plus... - wisdom is about experience. - what's your experience with wisdom? hear what this photographer learned from a select successful few. and... - "mama know when you and the good lord get ready, sister, you're gonna teach all over this world." - "my generation" is made possible by... - auto and home insurance from the hartford, helping to make a difficult time a little less difficult for drivers 50 and over. information about our program, including how to find an agent, is available at hartfordautoinsurance.com.

- for you or someone you love, for care in the home, we're here. we're interim healthcare, and when it matters most, count on us. - hi, and thanks so much for joining us. i'm leeza gibbons. where does wisdom come from? kind of a tricky question. we've all met young people who are wise beyond their years, but on the flip side, being older doesn't necessarily make you wise, does it? the real value of wisdom happens when you share it with others, and we're fortunate because we're about to meet some very sage people. it's an opportunity you won't want to miss, so join us as "my generation" explores the ways of wisdom.

we all know kareem abdul-jabbar as a basketball superstar, but now he's scoring major points off the court as a champion of knowledge. diane roberts tells us why this legendary athlete still has game. [whistle blows] - kareem abdul-jabbar holds a number of titles in the national basketball association--among them, 1969 rookie of the year, 19 time all-star, 2 time nba finals mvp, and to this day the league's all-time leading scorer. what is your absolute best nba mory, and what did you learn from it? - i would say my best nba memories would be the success that i enjoyed on the lakers in the decade of the eighties, and i kind of like carried the banner for people my age because i was able to play so long. i was still playing, and a lot of people my age could relate, and that was special.

that was a real privilege. - abdul-jabbar is quick to give credit where credit is due. he could not have achieved the high level of success in his career if it weren't for the sacrifices of those who came before him. he got to where he is on the shoulders of giants. - "on the shoulders of giants." - this documentary chronicles the best basketball team you never heard of--the harlem renaissance five, or the harlem rens. when did you first become aware of the harlem rens? - i didn't become aware of the harlem rens until after i retired from professional basketball and i had a chance to study about it a little bit and read into it. - the rens played basketball in the heart of black america in the twenties and thirties--new york's harlem. as a precursor to the harlem globetrotters, the all-black team couldn't even play on the same court with whites. many say they were the best basketball team to ever play the game. they paved the way for integration in the nba, a fact

not lost on one of its most famous alumni. - it really helped me understand that basketball players today, especially african-american basketball players today, owe these guys something because they set standards, and because of what these men had done, everybody realized that not all the best athletes were playing in the nba. and within 3 years, the nba integrated. - abdul-jabbar was so inspired that he produced the documentary, but there's even more to this hall-of-famer than meets the eye. you are not just an athlete. how do you want people to know you or remember you? - basically it's i can do more than stuff a ball through a hoop. i feel that my greatest asset is my mind. i've tried to make that obvious by the things that i do. - he's an author, having written 7 books, including a companion to the documentary and "brothers in arms," about a tank unit who fought under general george patton

during world war ii. - the 761st were involved in the liberation of dachau, gunskirchen, and mauthausen death camps and probably a couple of others. it's not a very well-known part of the history of world war ii, but it actually happened. i think it's very important that blacks and jewish americans understand this. - his test book is a foray intohildren's literature, the first in a series called "what color is my world?" - it's about african american inventors and how they've impacted american life, and hopefully it'll be the first in a series. i want to continue on on that theme and deal with spanic inventors and also asn inventors. - why do you think that's important? - a lot of people don't understand the importance of the diverse nature of american life. until it's pointed out, people will continue to make that assumption. - like many assume the 7-foot 2-inch basketball wonder is

only about his sport, but in fact, this laker legend is a collector of coins, oriental rugs, and books. he considers himself a bibliophile. he's also a historian. some of his heroes include the first treasury secretary, alexander hamilton; jackie robinson, and wild bill hickok. - wild bill hickok is one of my heroes because about the time that he was 10, 12 years old, his family got really motivated by the fact that slavery was very evil, and his family ran a station on the underground railroad in central illinois. - all of his life--the famed basketball career, being a noted historian, producer, writer, actor--it's nice to have but better to share. - i think that the values of my community, the african-american community-- there's been a disconnect between generations, and unless one generation takes the trouble

to explain what these values are and why they're important, the younger generation gets cut off, and we have to help them understand that each generation has a duty to make that connection for their kids so that they connect with that, and in turn they will do the same thing with their kids. - abdul-jabbar does not miss an opportunity to pass on to the next generation. that comes from his commitment to keep learning and doing. what would you say to people in their 50s and 60s about moving into the next phase of their life? - i would say that it's wonderful to have the opportunity to move into another career, because if you think that life ends after your first career and you're just gonna sit around and knit or something like that, it doesn't work like that. you really have to have something that motivates you that gives you joy because at that age, you've hopefully accumulated some wisdom and you'll be able to figure out things to do that are meaningful.

- this learned renaissance man is full of wit and wisdom. you have a pretty good handle on the smart part, but he was able to showcase his wit in the movie "airplane." - wait a minute. i know you. you're kareem abdul-jabbar. you play basketball for the los angeles lakers. - i'm sorry, son, but you must have me confused with someone else. my name is roger murdock. i'm the copilot. - abdul-jabbar says he can't walk through an airport or get on a plane without someone remembering his actor's turn. - i'm flying on lufthansa in europe, right? and the pilot said, "no, you've got to come up "here and fly with us. we're gonna take off with murdock." and i did. they strapped me in, and i took off with them, and they're like, "right on." - sweet. roger murdock was in the cockpit. - i think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defense. - i forget the exchange right now. - and he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court.

- but i end up grabbing the kid and saying, "to hell i don't." - to hell i don't. listen, kid. i've been hearing that crap ever since i was at ucla. there we go. - for my generation, i'm diane roberts. - kareem abdul-jabbar will be following in the footsteps of shirley temple and louis armstrong by serving as a global cultural ambassador for the state department. and we have more information about his project and some of his secrets for staying healthy after 50 on our website mygeneration.org. - later, words of wisdom from maya angelou. - lift up your hearts. each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings. - many would consider the chance to learn from some of the wisest people in the world a golden opportunity. photographer andrew zuckerman did, and he made the most of his. he calls it "the wisdom project." - where on the face does wisdom leave its mark?

is it in the furrows and the folds laid down even as life was teaching, say, painter andrew wyeth what matters most? - love something. i think we've got to learn to love something deeply. - or is it in the eyes we should look for wisdom? the lessons of a lifetime reflecting back from a bill withers. - you can't get to wonderful without passing through all right. you can't skip from not being able to function all the way over to running the whole show. - or should we look to where laughter registered joy on those who discovered its secret? - serve others--almost the unfailing recipe for happiness and success. - and if it's there, wisdom like this, can it be framed in a photograph, captured in a conversation? - wisdom is about experience. your experiences in your life which hopefully would include

risk-taking and being somewhat adventurous. - photographer and filmmaker andrew zuckerman thought so and made finding the answers his own adventure. he took the pictures. he did the interviews over hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of miles. so you went around the world looking for wisdom. - yeah. - did you find it? - yeah, i found a lot of it--you know, lots of pieces of it. - some people he met knew where to look, like jane goodall, world expert on chimps in the wild, who pointed zuckerman to... - that's the wisdom of the indigenous people, who would make a major decision based on, "how will this decision affect our people 7 generations ahead?" - some, like dame judi dench, said they had no idea. - i don't know anything about wisdom, really. - zuckerman's journey took him and his team and a whole lot of gear from the english countryside to big cities... from malibu... to south africa. some of his subjects gave him all day,

others nowhere near that. and the portraits taken, each against the exact same white background--zuckerman collected them in a book and a dvd called simply "wisdom." there was a cutoff age to be in the wisdom project--no one younger than 65. at the time you set out to do this, you were barely 30 years old. these people have lived more than twice as long as you. - it has just always been logical to me to ask people who have done things that i haven't done what that's all about. it seems like cheating. - it's a good shortcut. - it is. you know, these people have lived such extraordinary lives. like, i couldn't imagine passing up the opportunity to get to talk to any of them. - and doing that gave him a gallery of cool memories, some personal moments with some great men and women off-camera, like learning that desmond tutu likes to joke around by pretending to be annoyed. - and i didn't understand that about him when i first met

him, and he walked in, and he said, you know, "ugh, i can't "believe you took me out of what i was doing. what are we doing here?" all he did was complain and complain and complain until he sat down to do the project, and then he was just unbelievably generous with his thoughts and ideas. - or that clint eastwood, who really did think out loud with the camera rolling... - i hate to simplify it down to just "be yourself," but that's--then people say, "well, who am i? who is myself?" - could make time after the picture was taken for for a meal with someone he's just met. - he was fantastic. he then stayed after, had lunch with us. we talked about filmmaking and jazz music. - or that a painter whose thoughts on work go in this direction. - it's like making love. sometimes you can do it, and sometimes you can't. - also knows what it takes to sit still for a picture. - he didn't move a millimeter. he was an incredibly generous collaborator. - so after posing the likes of the late vaclav havel, who led

czechoslovakia to freedom, and chatting with the oscar-winning actress vanessa redgrave and listening to the oscar-winning actor alan arkin, and chuck close, the painter paralyzed in his 40s, yet still working. and former secretary of state madeleine albright and comic billy connolly and singer willie nelson and on and on. what do these faces tell him about the meaning of wisdom? what does zuckerman see after photographing esther mahlangu of south africa, an artist and a matriarch of her tribe, when he looks at the portrait that resulted? - i think that she is a happy person, and i think there's a certain amount of joy that comes out of her--sort of joy and curiosity are what i think about when i think about esther mahlangu. - nick nolte? it's great. it's a fantastic photo. - i think that nolte has a-- he's mischievous, and i think that the portrait sort of has a bit of that in it, which i

guess is a strong mix of cunning and sort of childish behavior. he's fantastic. - did you get it with the wyeth photo? - yeah. the andrew wyeth photo. - what do you see in that face? - i see an uncompromised life, a life with no compromise, and a complete calmness, a complete satisfaction. - so, what does it come to when 48-plus people tell you what worked for them in life-- what, if given the chance, they would do exactly the same way all over again? - i think that what it came down to for most of the people in this project was to love what you do, as wyeth said. to love what you do deeply, and if you don't love what you do, you're probably not gonna be very good at it, and to work very, very hard at it and to remain curious about the world around you. - but there was something else happening here because wisdom only gets passed down if there's somebody there ready to catch it.

what you're saying is critical in this process of wisdom being passed down is that you also need to take it in. you need to listen to it. - listening and being curious and wide-eyed in the world, i think, is what allows us to move forward, progress, evolve, and learn and alter our behavior and become more self-aware. i think that listening is kind of what it's all about. - which is what andrew zuckerman did. he listened, and now maybe he's the wiser for it himself. for "my generation," this is john donvan. - here's a little wisdom trivia for you. desmond tutu liked the idea of the project so much, he helped andrew recruit people for the book by personally asking them to participate. now, there's an offer you can't refuse. - i can kind of pass on something that i've been

acquainted with and let whoever it is pick the bones out of it. i don't know anything about wisdom, really. - boxing coach junious hinton got his education from the school of hard knocks. no wonder his teaching style can best be described as wisdom with a wallop. - the jab wasn't right. i love the sport of boxing. take your time. beautiful. it's like living. you get out of it what you put in it. you have to be disciplined. you have to have moves, and you have to stick with it. i'm originally from north carolina. i lived on a farm. i quit school at 16. at 18 years old, i was living in new york city, making $42

a week on my own. you couldn't tell me nothing then. you couldn't tell me. when i got married, you couldn't tell me nothing. you couldn't tell me nothing. and then when i got a car--oh, my god. what happened with my boxing career? it started going downhill. then i started takg fights. i wasn't in condition. i needed that money. started hanging out again. marriage ended up falling apart. that's why i have so much to tell the kids. i'm teaching them life. i'm teaching them my life. i use boxing as a tool to try to open up the doors for kids. good. one, two. they're gonna learn something here, if nothing but discipline. they're gonna learn that you can't come in here and act crazy. i don't want them having their pants hanging off their butt. i tell the young peoples here, they're with their pants hanging over, "do you believe in god?"

they say yes. "you're a liar. "you don't believe in god, because if you "believed in god, god gave an animal a tail to cover that ass up." oh, you missed it. one, two. there you go. i'm tough on the kids because i want the kids to grow up-- first to have a good education and to follow the rules of life because i know in my heart, everyone is not gonna be a fighter. take your time. keep your hands. some of the kids here, i'm just babysitting. i know that. but it makes me feel good because he's here in the gym. he ain't going noplace, but i know i got him in the gym. there's a possibility that i can teach him or inspire him to go on to become a lawyer, a doctor, police officer, and get a career. but i'm a boxing coach. i look for good. i look for kids that there's a possibility they're gonna go places. - it teaches me how to fight, and it helps my muscles. - the way this young man here is training, there's

a possibility that he might have a career in this thing. i'd give all the kids, all the young people in here respect. even the older people, i give them respect because i demand respect. what made me fall in love with working with kids? it showed me that i could live forever. i'm gonna give this kid something, and this kid is gonna take it. maybe he won't call my name, but he'd take what i gave him and pass it on to someone else, and they would take it and pass it on to someone else. that's what makes me live forever--not junious hinton but the thought and the lesson that he left. that makes me live forever. - i think that's what wisdom is. it's in the constant questioning of where you are, and when you stop wanting to know, you're dead. - be a part of the conversation. send an email to mygeneration@aarp.org or like us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

- poet maya angelou says, "life is not measured by the "number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away." wise words to live by. - i am a human, a woman. i was a dancer. i studied forever, and i loved to dance. i think once a dancer, always a dancer. despite the relentless arthritis and so forth, i still think as a dancer. i mean, i see the movement. i see--i see the grace of the human body. the only two things i ever loved to do--dance and writing. i love to write, and i teach. i do teach. - raised in missouri and arkansas, angelou survived

what could have been a soul-shattering childhood trauma. - i had been raped when i was 7. i stopped speaking for 6 years. my mother's people up in st. louis became, i guess, weary and frustrated with this sullen, silent child, so they sent me back to my grandma in stamps, arkansas. mama would braid my hair the way old ladies still braid girls' hair. i'd sit on the floor on a pillow. mama said, "sister, mama don't care what these people say "about you must be an idiot, you must be a moron "because you can't talk. sister, mama don't care." - and even then, little maya's grandmother offered an astounding prophecy. she said... - "mama know when you and the good lord get ready, sister, "you're gonna be a teacher. you'll gonna teach all over this world." i have 65 doctorates from all over the world.

i teach in french, in spanish. i used to think of myself as a writer who could teach, but since i've been teaching the last 29 years, i find i'm a teacher who can write. - and write maya angelou has, penning more than 30 books of poetry and prose, including 12 best-sellers. in 1993, angelou became only the second poet in u.s. history to have the honor of writing and reciting original work at a presidential inauguration. - lift up your hearts. each new hour holds new chances for new beginnings. [music playing] it's a great honor when your peers say you're all right, when your peers say you done good or you're doing good, which is even better. i had a rainbow in my cloud. i've had many rainbows, and because of them, i am able

to grow older and healthy mentally, spiritually, and kind of physically. what i'm trying to do is be a good representative of my species. i want to have done something, i want to do something so that i am expressing the hope and the dignity and the beauty and the passion of the human being. "and i know why the caged bird sings. ah, me. "when its wings are bruised and its bosom sore. "it beats its bars and would be free. "it's not a carol of joy or glee, but a song that it sings "from its heart's deep core, but a plea that upward to "heaven it flings. i know why the caged bird sings." [woman singing]

- maya angelou's personal archive now lives at the schomburg center for research in harlem, new york. the collection includes a letter from malcolm x, a telegram from coretta scott king, plus proofs and galleys of her unpublished work. if you'd like more information about any of the people you've seen on our program or if you'd just like to drop by and join us anytime, visit our website at mygeneration.org. and for all of us here at "my generation," i'm leeza gibbons. we thank you for watching. - i've been an addict. i've been a pleaser. i've been someone who gave myself. i'm someone who didn't know that "no" is a complete sentence. it took me a long time to figure out what i needed to do to feel ok about myself, to feel, you know, i don't need to be perfect. we're not supposed to be perfect. we're human beings.

- "my generation" is a production of aarp in association with maryland public television. "my generation" is made possible by... - auto and home insurance from the hartford, helping to make a difficult time a little less difficult for drivers 50 and over. information about our program, including how to find an agent, is available at hartfordautoinsurance.com. - for you or someone you love, for care in the home, we're here. we're interim healthcare, and when it matters most, count on us. - to purchase a dvd of "my generation," call 800-873-6154 or order online at mygeneration.org. please include the show number.

>> if you have a ball like this, get it ready. if you don't, you'll benefit from the movements by using an imaginary ball. so let's get started. keepdriving.com is dedicated to helping older adults maintain their driving independence using cognitive training, exercise, nutrition, and community. explore keepdriving.com today. "sit and be fit" is a creation of mary ann wilson, registered nurse, teacher and recognized leader in the field of fitness and healthy aging. mary ann consults with a team of medical and exercise specialists to bring you a fun and effective way to maintain funna