Which is I'm an optimist that two people can be together to work out their conflicts. And that commitment I think might be what love is because they both grow from their relationship.

But although Australia was also involved in the Vietnam conflict I can remember my dad telling us that if we were in Australia we wouldn't be drafted until we were 20.

In times of conflict war poverty or religious fundamentalism women and children are the first and most numerous victims. Women need all their courage today.

Spider-Man's probably my favorite. You see Batman is a billionaire and there's nothing really cool about a billionaire saving the world. But Spider-Man is Peter Parker a conflicted character who puts on a suit and saves the world. I love that.

You don't have any communication between the Israelis and the Iranians. You have all sorts of local triggers for conflict. Having countries act on a hair trigger - where they can't afford to be second to strike - the potential for a miscalculation or a nuclear war through inadvertence is simply too high.

If left unchecked global change will create violent conflict torrential storms shrinking coastlines and irreversible catastrophe.

The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results? Do they change with grace? Manage conflict?

Change means movement. Movement means friction. Only in the frictionless vacuum of a nonexistent abstract world can movement or change occur without that abrasive friction of conflict.

In the long term we can hope that religion will change the nature of man and reduce conflict. But history is not encouraging in this respect. The bloodiest wars in history have been religious wars.

Environmentalists have a very conflicted relationship with their cars.