To anyone with kind-hearted parents, or even parents who are just sensible and not jerks: Ask them about their experiences with previous power shifts. They should be able to tell you how they managed to survive when things seemed bleak, especially when they were raising us kids. It helped put things into perspective for me.

For one, my dad reminded me to take most of what the 🔴's with a grain of salt, because while they may be able to take power, they aren't smart enough to utilize it against us. Yeah, I realize the big perpetrator did cause a raucous during his years, but he couldn't steal power on his own, because WE fought him. We showed him what (little) he's actually capable of, and how numbers mean NOTHING when it comes to protecting the people you care about from danger.

If you believe that there aren't enough people to fight for us, you're wrong. You saw the map. you saw how close she trailed. Even if she wasn't the ideal, and despite our loss, PLENTY of people recognized the importance of choosing the lesser evil. But even if the numbers were small, it wouldn't make us powerless. If you look historically at previous shifts in power, you will see how relatively easy it was for us to bounce back! Ignorant rich white men in power made some lousy decisions, pissing off a majority of the people who chose them, leaving room for us to make a comeback and set things straight again.

I understand that the future feels very dark and uncertain, I've mourned plenty this week, almost more than I can handle. But you know the stories we digest - action-packed movies and shows with themes of overcoming fear, *Shounen anime* - they don't seem so exaggerated and silly anymore do they? In a depressed stupor, I binge-watched Save Me! Lollipop. While it's one of the campiest rom-coms with action I've ever seen (it fucks so hard a la Ranma 1/2), it allowed me to relearn some important lessons about life in general, and how crucial it is to keep your loved ones near. It made me shed tears multiple times, especially when the main girl had her classic shoujo outbursts. This is just one of plenty of fictional stories that remind us to cling to the light, no matter what happens. Our favorite fictions will always be there for us, no matter who tries to censor it.

Dad raised a great argument against our fears: 🔴's lie through their teeth. When it comes to their stupid policies, they only *act* like they know what their doing. Yes, many places are trying to silence us, but their laws only represent toxic statements. They can easily be challenged. i.e. Taking away federal funding for transgender surgeries...I can't say I've known a single person who got their surgery done through Tricare or Medicaid. Most surgeries I've heard about were either crowdfunded or paid by private insurance companies! It's not to say that trans soldiers had an advantage, but my dad did some research and found zero cases of a surgery being federally-funded. Yes, there are plenty of other trans issues at stake, but again, the laws that they're making are pointless, because they just think that they can micromanage a small portion of the population that they totally fear.

Despite our loss, giving the victors our full attention is exactly what they want. They want us to fall apart over their win so that they can easily take advantage of us. It's like sports: if your team loses a game, they don't just give up, they keep training to eventually make it to the top! Most importantly, keep being yourselves. Not just because it makes you feel good, but also because it'll make them so afraid of us that their grasp on our society and government just falls apart at the seams!