I was scrolling through my Twitter feed when one of my high school friends, who shall remain nameless for the purpose of this article, commented on republican candidate Donald Trump’s campaign and how his slogan “Make America Great Again” was essentially bogus. For in the eyes of my friend, America never stopped being “Great.” This caused the wheels in my brain to churn and then churn some more, until finally I decided my thoughts needed to be written down in the article format, posted on every source of social media created, and shared with the world—so listen up.

There is a substantial and rather unhealthy amount of violence taking place in our great nation. Is shooting up movie theaters, schools and churches a stake our founding fathers would stand for? Is terrorizing the youth or rioting against the men and women who defend our very streets actions they would condone? You can bet your red, white and blue butt not. Uncle Sam is ashamed of the turmoil and distress this nation has fallen under. Countless men and women have died for the ideologies that America is great, that we are all other countries aspire to be. While we are not nearly as poorly off as some other countries are, we are far from the great nation our founding fathers intended for us to be. America needs a change, and while I firmly believe that change is neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump, a change is still required upon us.

However, it has come to my attention that this change needs to be from the American people. The American people who stood together when those two towers fell on one of the darkest days in American history. The American people who petitioned and protested for not just equal rights, but the right to love whoever and for that same love to be recognized by the State. Where is the America that stood together? This is the changed we need, not walls put up or undisclosed emails revealed to us—we need to join hands and unite. We need to remember the values this great nation was founded on.

Please don’t misunderstand me, America is by no means a bad country, not in the slightest but it is undoubtedly not living up to its full potential and this is the source of the people. If only we could set aside our differences and cherish that of what separates us all from each other instead of using it as ammunition against one another—both literally and metaphorically. America in its years has overcome the greatest of obstacles, and I truly believe we can conquer this one, this uprise in violence. Now is the time to stand together, and make America the greatest it has ever been. America needs to be united once and for all.