My name is Loretta West and here are some of the things I do and do not believe in:

Until such time as I am given concrete evidence to the contrary, I will not believe in God or any other superhuman and supernatural being. Anyone who claims to be in touch with such a being or to speak the word of such a being or to represent such a being on Earth, is trying to sell you something.

‘Right’ and ‘wrong’ are lines drawn in the sand by people who want you to do what they say. If you’re not doing what they think you should be doing, then what you are doing must be, somehow, wrong.

Not that it matters what you do in this world, because whatever you do, people will always doubt your motives. If you save a drowning man, there will always be someone thinking ‘but she only did it because she was guilty he was drowning in the first place’. This is not fair.

Not that this should come as any surprise, because life will never be fair, so there is no reason to accord it any fairness in return.

This goes double if you are a woman in this man’s world.

People are capable of change. They sometimes have to be forced into it, but they can change. Not that anyone will believe you have changed. (See point re: fairness above.)

Saying sorry is not an impossible thing to do, but it is an easier thing to do when you have a reason to say sorry and a reason why you want to say sorry.