And as far as false hope, there is no such thing. There is only hope or the absence of hope - nothing else.

I think we can work through a lot of political and international problems, but what really frightens me is what's happening environmentally.

Some people, when they die, leave so much life behind that we wonder how they did it.

It's one thing to show your love for someone when everything is going fine and life is smooth. But when the 'in sickness and in health' part kicks in and sickness does enter your lives, you're tested. Your resilience is tested.

I had this odd sibling rivalry with America.

The house I grew up in had large plate-glass windows, which birds frequently crashed into headfirst. My father helped me assemble a bird hospital, consisting of a few shoe boxes, some old rags, and tiny dishes for water and food.

Even if the Bush Administration had flung open the gates to stem-cell research years ago, we would not be at the point of offering treatment today. Christopher Reeve would still have been taken from us. But we would be closer.