A birds' story

Caught this story in NPR the National Public Radio.

A man holding a wounded almost dead bird in hand asked a wise man "Is this bird alive?". His plan was to prove the wise man wrong. If the wise man says "the bird is dead", then he will open his hand and show that the bird still has some life. If the wise man says "the bird is alive", then he will pinch the birds' neck and kill it before opening the hand. In anyway, he will prove the wise man wrong. Now can you what the wise man would have replied?

The wise man said calmly "the answer is in your hands"

The speaker told the story as a comparison to people who claim that the global warming is not reached the level of attention that it needs. I like it.