Angelina Jolie believes people are defined by what they "stand for".
The 42-year-old actress – who recently admitted she refused to work with disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein after a "bad experience" in her 20s – thinks it is importance to embrace the "freedom" we have and use it to do good for future generations.
She said: "What we do, each in our own small way, matters. The hopeful thought is that it is in our hands. Over the next 150 years, technology is going to give us more and better means of communicating, fighting poverty, defending human rights, and caring for the environment.
"But it is what we choose to do with the freedom we have that will make all the difference. If my life experience has taught me anything, it is that what you stand for, and what you choose to stand against, is what defines you.
"As the San people say, ‘You are never lost if you can see your path to the horizon.’ "
And Angelina – who raises six children with estranged husband Brad Pitt – thinks it is a "beautiful aspiration" to consider consequences as far ahead as seven generations.
She wrote in the new issue of America’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine: "My mother, who was part Iroquois Indian on her father’s side, taught me the Iroquois saying that we should consider the impact of our decisions upon the next seven generations. It is hard for us to be that thoughtful, with all the pressures in our lives, but it seems to me to be a beautiful aspiration.
"So whoever you are as you read this – a doctor, lawyer, scientist, human rights activist, student, teacher, mother, wife, or boy or girl flipping through your mother’s copy – I hope that you will join me in taking time today to think about how we can all contribute to making a better future.
"There is a lot we can’t predict about the world 150 years from now. But we do know that our great-grandchildren will be living with the consequences of decisions we make now, just as we can trace the origin of problems we are dealing with today to their roots in earlier centuries."
Meanwhile, the ‘Tomb Raider’ actress recently admitted she "warned" other women about working with Harvey Weinstein – who was sacked by The Weinstein Company earlier this week following the publication of a damning New York Times expose, which claimed he had sexually harassed a number of women over a 30-year period and paid off at least eight to keep their allegations quiet – because of her own "bad" experience.
She said: "I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did.
"This behaviour towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."
Angelina Jolie: Actions matter
