Hmm... reminds me of the ending of a video game I recently completed. Horizon: Zero Dawn.
At the end a woman was recounting an accident that happened when she was a child. She was playing with fire and it got out of hand and burned a pine tree before the fire department got it under control.
Later her mother took her out to see the dead baby birds on the ground. There had been a nest in the pine tree. She yelled something about she didn't care.
Her mother said, "You have to care. Being smart won't count for anything unless you use your intelligence to make the world better."