I just received the following email from a fan called Lori:

I recently used a quote of yours from your blog in my Voice of Democracy essay, a national essay contest in America. The topic was, "Does my generation have a role in the future?" Anyway, I just couldn't come up with a conclusion for it, and your quote definetly helped me out and gave me the conclusion I was looking for. It was "I don't believe in living a life of fear, of letting our darker emotions define and shape us. I think that each one of us has the ability to help change the world slightly for the better, if we're brave enough to listen to our hearts and following our instincts instead of just going with the flow and accepting the world as it is handed to us. Our leaders will sometimes betray us and lie to us and lead us astray. But we can overcome any challenge if we keep the faith, keep talking, keep trying. It isn't always easy, and it rarely happens overnight, but if we don't constantly struggle towards the light, we will forever be doomed to languish in the darknesse." It helped me make my essay perfect, and I couldn't have done it without this perfect quote. Thank you so much! You're the best!

I couldn't have said it better myself!!! Best of luck with the contest, Lori!!!