By Davion Cook & Gabe Dickens | City of Hoard, Carpenter County/City of Rusk, Carpenter County

Charles Wiley, speaker of the most recent special discussion at Bear Hall, had quite a few pieces of life advice he was more than willing to share with the BBS audience.

Wiley is a WWII and Vietnam Veteran who is more than 90 years old.

He captivated his audience as he went over some of his experiences and gave advice as to how to get further in life and live to the fullest.

Wiley started to work at the age of 5 and joined the Navy at 17.

One of the interesting things about Wiley is that he knew Malcolm X. Wiley said he was a good friend with Malcom who dedicated his life to Elija Muhhamad.

Wiley said when Malcom X was let down by Elija Muhhamad, he saw Malcolm struggle. Wiley used this to springboard into a larger statement about how young individuals have to make some big choices sometimes.

“[People] have to learn to be very select in what causes they are going to put their life into,” Wiley said.

Badger Boys State citizens may not know precisely what causes they wish to dedicate their life to outside of this week, but Wiley advised them to choose carefully and go for it, whatever it may be.

Wiley mentioned some things that he would advise for those meaning to be successful.

“Being lucky means you need to put in some effort to be lucky,” Wiley said.

This is an interesting point as those who are not successful often blame those people who are successful as having luck and not being disciplined, one of the other things Wiley stressed. Wiley stressed that people need to spend time on things that are important rather than things that consume useless time, energy and resources.

Wiley made the crowd laugh by giving some of his uncut advice.

“The world is tough, but it’s a hell of a lot tougher when you’re stupid,” Wiley said. “Don’t be stupid,”

He showed a certain bit of resilience through this quote and how people could evade issues by not choosing to do something “dumb.”

Wiley brought up a heartfelt story on one of his colleagues from the war who was addicted to morphine and related it to his advice about avoiding “dumb” things.

“I’ve watched people ruin their lives with drugs…I watched him deteriorate…when he got home he committed suicide,” Wiley said.

Wiley said he suffered a lot with people dying in his life and over the years he has gained a lot of emotional and intellectual wisdom.

Wiley feels grateful and gives a heartfelt “thank you” for all the BBS citizens who have come to take a week to learn and grow. He appreciates the applause he received at the convention and feels re-energized to keep going.

Lastly Wiley mentioned that if he had one more life and he could pick one thing he’d do again in the next life, he’d find that one special gal to spend his life with commenting that it is something important humans should do.