Riddle #3

Ally of downtrodden, it gives the weakest a chance;
A much needed fuel for an optimist's stance.
It lends even the worst off a reason to live,
A chance for a better future is what it does give.

The young usually have it, but it fades after time,
It still provides quite a boost through life's arduous climb.
But the higher you climb, the greater your fall,
If you stake too much, you just might lose it all.

Alone it is useless, just the substance of dream,
With determination it forms a powerful team.
It inspires progress, improvement, success
You might need a lot, to interpret this mess.

Well, better late than never. Sorry for the delay; perhaps I'll eventually get around to writing them ahead of time. At any rate, I finally did get it done, and that's what matters. As a note, for the confused reader, "this mess" refers to the riddle not the answer and "with determination" means along with the idea determination, not how it forms the "team", (I know some of you have a tizzy about that sort of thing).

As for the standings, last week's riddle was worth 2 points for a certain answer, one point for the weaker, not a focused or concentrated answer (IM me if you're confused). So here they are, in no particular order: Derek 3, Elizabeth G. 3, Caitlin 3, Martha 2, Melissa 2, The Sugue 1, Lee 1, Elizabeth E. 1, Kelly 1.

It's still not too late to answer for this week's and last week's riddles. If you haven't please do so soon. I'll still accept the answers until next Monday, after which I'll start enforcing a week long limit (if you do answer after that, you can still get half credit).

That's all, for now.