Every faction conditions its members to think and act a certain way. And most people do it. For most people, it's not hard to learn, to find a pattern of thought that works and stay that way. But our minds move in a dozen different directions. We can't be confined to one way of thinking, and that terrifies our leaders. It means we can't be controlled. And it means that no matter what they do, we will always cause trouble for them.

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I see a kind of thirst in her expression, the same one I saw when she told me about her brother in the back room of the tattoo parlor. Before the attack simulation I might have called it a thirst for justice, or even revenge, but now I am able to identify it as a thirst for blood. And even as it frightens me, I understand it. Which should probably frighten me even more.

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Writing means not just staring ugliness in the face, but finding a way to embrace it.

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You know, there's a word for big, strong men who attack women, and it's coward.

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One choice can transform you. One choice can destroy you. Once choice will define you.

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Killing you is not the worst thing they can do to you," I say. "Controlling you is.

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Since I was young, I have always known this: Life damages us, every one. We can’t escape that damage. But now, I am also learning this: We can be mended. We mend each other.

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There are so many ways to be brave in this world. Sometimes it involves giving up everything you have ever known, or everyone you have ever loved for the sake of something greater.

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Let the guilt teach you how to behave next time.

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Some people will always fear change. But we can't indulge them.

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