Donna Lynn Hope

She may have been among them but she could never be one of them. She was without inclusion for-as-much as she was not "one of the girls" and she wasn't "one of the guys." She was an outsider gazing in, endlessly comfortless, while they wished they had what it took to be less like the others and more like her.

She has never understood, nor been able to relate to a herd mentality. She doesn't get along with followers and avoids the bandwagon. She marches to her own tune and does it alone. She's despised by the weak-minded and respected by the strong. She ruffles the feathers of the flock because she champion's the defenseless and pick's on the mob. Does she wish she could not give a damn and live an ordinary life surrounded by nodding and needy ordinary people? At times...but she'd be bored out of her mind when she's never bored alone, and because of that she's patient because a couple of times in a lifetime she's lucky enough to come across a memorable, magnetic and remarkable person - one worth knowing, even if just for the brevity of a conversation.

Some people live their lives being perpetual victims and finger pointers. To anyone who points a finger at someone else and lays all the blame at their feet instead of taking responsibility for their own behavior, I would say, "I see that finger and you know where you can put it?

I don__ make excuses, so don__ make excuses for me. When I__ being an ass, it__ because I have one.

We know what we should do. Age is no excuse. Do we go to others for permission or for discipline?

I think anyone who opened their heart enough to love without restraint and subsequently were devastated by loss knows that in that moment you are forever changed; a apart of you is no longer whole. Some will never again love with that level of abandon where life is perceived as innocent and the threat of loss seems implausible. Love and loss, therefore, are linked.

I__ awake and I can__ sleep. The more I__ awake, the more I see, and the harder to sleep.

People don't want words, as seductive, pleasant and warming as they can be. People want to see that they're worth some sacrifice or some great deed. And it's not that people are always worth it, it's that love is.

You may not like what I see but I don't like what you do.

Who are we to think we deserve anything? What makes us so great? No one is "lucky" to have us. We are all full of it.

If I never shed a tear or wondered what happened to someone I actually loved, what makes you believe I'd think twice about you, someone I never even cared for?

They say love inspires. Guess what inspires more? An enemy.

The spider's web: She finds an innocuous corner in which to spin her web. The longer the web takes, the more fabulous its construction. She has no need to chase. She sits quietly, her patience a consummate force; she waits for her prey to come to her on their own, and then she ensnares them, injects them with venom, rendering them unable to escape. Spiders _ so needed and yet so misunderstood.

Speaking of happiness, those distinctive moments are found outdoors _ in the fall, in the winter and always in the mountains where people are few, wildlife is abundant and there is peace in the quiet.

What an ambiance, and such a pity I'm alone: Candles giving off their glow, gusts of wind and the light tapping of rain on the windowpane - a massage for the mind. And a comforting one, too.

The earth is grounding while the mountains, curvaceous and sweeping, offer a blanket of refuge. Their woods are abounding in camouflage as their leaves sway about in continuous, florid dance. There is an air of invulnerability that is exclusive to the woods, which is why she__ most happy among them. She doesn__ mind beasts as they are preferable to humans and much less threatening; beasts, you see, although dangerous, are incapable of the enmity that permeates beyond the shade of the woods.

All the bruised lives, searching hearts...Everyone wants a love story but few will risk what it takes to live one.

You love the word love but you don__ really love and you don__ want to love because love, which is really sacrifice, would prevent you from doing what you want to do.