One of the most heavily anticipated events in the oddball year of 2016 occurred on Tuesday – the presidential election. Everywhere the lowly voter goes, he is positively bombarded with political opinions, highly-charged advertisements, tasteless commercials, newspaper headlines, online articles, and inconvenient phone calls touting “the importance of your vote”. Do you really need another opinion from one more random stranger on the Internet?

Probably not.

But I’ll give it anyway.

A Trump victory, eh? Who could have predicted that? Many of us were under the assumption that Clinton would clinch the victory and rule us for the next four years, which would likely be met with grudging acceptance and more than a little distrust.

But now?

A new era is coming, my friends. I’ll not waste time discussing my own personal views but instead impart some age-old wisdom gleaned from none other than the very first president of the United States:

Don’t form political parties. Unite together as a nation and stand strong.

Okay, so perhaps Washington didn’t use those words exactly, but his underlying message was the same. Hundreds of years ago our first national leader warned us against the creation of political factions and instead urged us to be an amalgamated country for the betterment of our society.

And what did we do? We formed political parties.

Alas, we humans have a knack for choosing exactly that which is worst for us.

(That’s not Washington, by the way. That bit of wisdom comes straight from Albus Dumbledore.)

But I digress, the world state is looking pretty grim, my friends. People are pitted against one another and at each other’s throats over partisan views, fighting in the streets and yelling hateful slurs through the protection of their computer screens. This election was particularly divisive due to strong supporters of both candidates, and the proliferation of social media opinion and media hype didn’t help things much either.

Nevertheless, we as a nation can get through tough times.

“For we must unite inside her, or we’ll crumble from within.”

(That’s some moreHarry Potter, by the way. It’s the sorting hat this time. )

But that message rings true. We are the United States, not the Divided States, even though we’re not acting like it at the moment. Despite the troubles, we as a nation have a civic duty to overcome such problems that plague us; we must eradicate racism, hatred, discrimination, crime, corruption, greed, and intolerance. Banded together, the citizens of America can destroy old theories of inequality that continue to persist. We can truly become the greatest nation in the world.

But there’s no way that will happen when we are warred against one another.

In fact, there’s no way any nation could triumph when its people are lined up in the streets spewing hate at passersby, protesting violently against any alleged injustice, and attacking others for simply daring to exist.

Remember our country’s original dedication to liberty, justice, and freedom is our prime directive. We may be going through difficult situations in terms of political leadership and economic and social distress, but no adversity can deter the strength of the American people.

It can’t. Our future depends on us.