"The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."

From the 1870s to the 1890s, Col. Robert Ingersoll led the free-thought movement in the United States.  By then, Ernestine Rose was ill and living in England.  In 1885, when she had been widowed for three years and was 75, she wrote that she wished Ingersoll would "visit her, should he ever go to England."  He never did, but she then contributed $10 -- a sizeable amount then -- to the Ingersoll Secular Society.  In appreciation, the group proposed a toast to "Mrs. Ernestine L. Rose, dear to all American Liberals."

Ingersoll wrote that "The greatest test of courage on the earth is to bear defeat without losing heart."  Although Rose did not live to see either women's suffrage nor the success of free thought, she remained committed to her causes and engaged in their success.  In these difficult times of the Trump presidency, her true courage is a model to us all.  We need to continue our resistance to actions we find repugnant.   I particularly like Jen Hoffman's weekly Action Checklist, which has a variety of different actions depending on how much time or energy you have.