Over the years my mother's steadfast faith in God has inspired me, particularly when I had to perform extremely difficult surgical procedures or when I found myself faced with my own medical scare.

What you're saying is that 'I, the superior elite, will take care of you.' Why? Because, you see, that superior, elite group needs to feel superior and elite. And they can't be superior and elite unless you have a whole lot of people down there groveling around. So you keep them down there by feeding them.

When I entered high school I was an A-student, but not for long. I wanted the fancy clothes. I wanted to hang out with the guys. I went from being an A-student to a B-student to a C-student, but I didn't care. I was getting the high fives and the low fives and the pats on the back. I was cool.

Do not underestimate the importance of feeling special.

I always say if God didn't allow any bad things to happen, we would already be in heaven. And we are not there. That's where trust and faith comes in. You just say, "Lord, I don't understand it. But one thing I do know is that you understand it and that you are in control and I trust you."

The Roman Empire was very, very much like us. They lost their moral core, their sense of values in terms of who they were. And after all of those things converged together, they just went right down the tubes very quickly.

I am convinced that knowledge is power - to overcome the past, to change our own situations, to fight new obstacles, to make better decisions.