One of the most insane environments I have ever spent time in is a gun range. There we are, all in a line, armed to the teeth, firing away.

The history of apartheid-era South Africa is incredibly sad and at times infuriatingly incomprehensible.

The only difference between me and others is that they think they can change something with cute little poems, nice cards or embracing trees and being nice to little lapdogs.

If a slave were to raise his voice to his master, he risked all manner of punishment. Yet what was possible in many circumstances was to lift one's voice in song. This was a major ingredient in what is now known as blues and gospel. Slaves may have been regarded as subhuman by their cruel captors, but through music, they were proud and dignified.

I come from a minimum wage working world, as we all did for at least some part of our lives, and that is never out of my rearview. I've never forgotten how much your feet hurt after you've stood on them for like 12 hours. And how the drudgery of a job you hate craps on your entire life; how you treat other people, how you treat yourself, and it really was getting to me.

There is no place in the world like Australia. Not even its beautiful neighbor New Zealand.

It is only our humanity that can deliver us from the brutality of our achievements.