Dear Hillary,

May I call you Hillary? After your inspiring and powerful commencement speech at Wellesley College, I wanted to reach out to you and share my thoughts.

Please do not go gentle into that good night. Although you have suffered greatly in the most public theater, we still need you. You have been martyred on the pyre of political dirty tricks like perhaps no other before. From Russian and FBI interference, to politically motivated character assassination masquerading as “inquiries,’’ to voter suppression laws, to fake news, to Internet trolls, to your opponent’s constant lying, to alternative facts, to false equivalence, to endless conspiracy theories, we now finally see how terribly damaging all of these antidemocratic forces can be. We see how toxic and corrosive the naked grab for power, whatever the means, is to the foundation of our democracy.

These are perilous times, and we need your resolute dignity now more than ever. We need you to sustain us. While I desperately hoped and believed that you would be our next president, we cannot let lies, prejudice, and demagoguery triumph over truth and fairness. As Gandhi said, “Remember that all through history, . . . there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. . . . Always.’’ I believed, and I still believe.

Vive la resistance!

David S. Huckins

Weston