I think that everything you do helps you to write if you're a writer. Adversity and success both contribute largely to making you what you are. If you don't experience either one of those, you're being deprived of something.
“What we want the folks in Ethiopia to know is that we are behind them in the democratic process. We know it is not perfect, as we are still working on ours; but we wish them success in this great and noble endeavor.”