Twenty five hundred years ago, Thucydides laid it down as a law of geopolitics and, unfortunately, of life. The strong do what they can, he said, while the weak struggle as they must. It is this reality that explains why great powers exert their will on the world—often without consequence—and why victims are so often stuck with the consequences.

While we often focus on the fatalism of the first half of this proverb, the Stoics would point us to the second half—for there is agency and inspiration and courage in it. Was that not the role picked up by Cato and the rest of the Stoic opposition in Rome as they fought against tyranny—outvoted, outgunned, out of time? Was that not the fate of Stockdale in the prison camp in Vietnam, struggling valiantly against his captors? And is this not now what we see coming out of Ukraine, a sovereign nation brutally and capriciously invaded by a fading great power and yet resisting with their fists and teeth?

A Spartan warrior was once spoken to of surrender. He picked up a mouse by the tail and watched it claw and bite at him. “When the tiniest creature defends itself like this against aggressors, what ought men to do, do you reckon?” he said.

So too must we resist and fight. The strong and the evil will do what they will. But we can struggle. We can make them pay for every inch and dollar of it. We can do what we will. We can do what we must. As that mouse might attest, no species survives long without a will to do so, without a will to protect itself.

Like so many, we’ve been both horrified and inspired by the events in Ukraine. Last week, Ryan Holiday received a touching email from someone he knows in Ukraine. It prompted him to reach out to his agent for an estimate on the amount of royalties he’s earned from the Ukraine and Russian translations of his books. Ryan donated all ~$15,000 to a charity in Ukraine called The Come Back Alive Foundation. Come Back Alive funds body armor, supplies, training, and more for the soldiers defending Ukraine. We hope you can make a donation to Come Back Alive as well. And you can also support the people of Ukraine by speaking out, by reaching out to representatives in your country, state, or city. As Come Back Alive has on their page, “We believe that a threat to freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere.”