The Nazis want us to feel hopeless. They want us to give up the fight.

If they have succeeded in making you feel that all is lost, they have achieved their mission. Do not allow them that victory. But don’t kick yourself if you can’t stop yourself feeling that way; just shake off the shock, clear your mind if necessary, regather your druthers, and get back in the game when ready.

If afterward you still feel that all is hopeless, there is freedom in that, too — a new level of freedom that can be put to good use in fighting fascism.

If you truly feel that it is hopeless, then you become someone who believes that they have nothing left to lose. That is a tremendous feeling of a different kind of empowerment: a feeling of intrepid invincibility of sorts.

You may feel empowered to be your authentic self in public, and to hell with everyone else, even those in power. You may feel emboldened to tell the brutal truth about the evil of those now in power. You may feel empowered to take civil disobedience to a level that you never before dared.

Or, you may find the courage and empowerment to stare evil face to face without a flinch of fear, knowing full well that you could become the next Renee Good or Alex Pretti.

If you truly feel that all is lost, you could become just the sort of fearless soul that we’ll need thousands of in the near future.

Then, all may not be lost after all.