. >> george saunders is here.e get the address at syracuse university and the message was simple and powerful -- try to be kind to others. a few months later, the new york times posted the transcript and it has been shared more than one million times. i am pleased to have george saunders back at the table. just tell me, what am i having in here that is different from reading the speech? >> regionally, i'd written a 20 minute speech thinking that was the lead and two days before, i called and they said it is eight minutes. exactly right. as a short story writer, pretty good at cutting it back. very similar to the speech itself. the speech was kind of surprising. i do not expect it to really go beyond that day. when it did, i felt like maybe i did something right without knowing what it was. >> what you think it was? >> partly the length you had to be urgent and was not a lot tougher supporting data. also i was given it at syracuse where i teach, it kind of loosened me up a bit in thing i'm going to speak from the h

. >> charlie: george saunders is here.rsity. his message was both simple and powerful. try to be kind to others. three months later the "new york times" placed a transcript of the speech online. within days it had been shared more than 1 million times. that speech is now the book. congratulations, by the way. some thoughts on kindness. i am pleased to have george saunders back at this table. welcome. >> thank you, charlie. >> charlie: so just -- what am i having in here that's different than reading the speech or hearing the speech? >> originally, i had written a 20-minute speech, thinking that's the length. about two days before i was to give it, i called and they said, no, it's eight. eight minutes. >> charlie: on behalf of the students, it's eight. >> exactly right. so as a short story writer, i'm pretty good at cutting it back, so i put in some of the cuts, basically very similar to the speech itself. because the speech was kind of surprising. i didn't expect it to go beyond that day. so when it did, i felt like maybe