How’s this for a journalistic scoop?

Teddy Fischer, a junior at Mercer Island High School in Washington, saw a photo that accidentally revealed Defense Secretary James Mattis’s phone number. He contacted him and asked for an interview. The retired four-star general called Teddy back.

Mr. Mattis, who was known as the “warrior monk” for his voracious reading habits, offered advice for high-schoolers – especially for students who might be scared when they see the news. “[H]istory will show you not all the answers, but it’ll tell you a lot of the questions to ask,” Mattis said.

He also spoke about the lack of political unity today as his biggest worry. “I think the first thing is to be very slow to characterize your fellow Americans,” Mattis told Teddy. “There’s no reason to get all worked up as if someone is evil or crazy. For one thing, none of us are perfect and all-knowing … and that’s why I don’t care for ideological people,” he said, in an interview with the Islander, the school paper, worth reading in full. “It’s like those people just want to stop thinking. They know what they think, they don’t read anything but one newspaper that agrees with them or they watch only one television news show…. So, I think the way you get over it is, you take people one at a time and you give them the same credit you give yourself and your ideas.”