With our 45th president being inaugurated this weekend, President Trump is on a lot of peoples' minds. Some are thrilled. Others are terrified. I've got mixed feelings myself, and I have plenty of friends on both sides of the fence (or should I say wall? Hah).
Needless to say, this is a stressful/exciting time for everyone. There are many disagreements, and there is going to be a lot of conflict between supporters and non-supporters of our new president over the coming weeks, months, and even years.
One of things I wish the most for this nation is for its people to have some sort of unity. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's ever going to happen. There are too many issues where both sides are completely uncompromising. Our country is at odds. One moment, the Republicans are in charge, and conservatives rejoice! The next, Democrats hold that cards, and liberals do their fair share of rejoicing. And it goes on and on like that, back and forth between two alternating poles of disagreement. This election cycle was no different in theory, but I feel it was also much worse. While there were those who full-heartedly supported their candidates from the beginning, I feel like for most of us it was the choice between the lesser of two evils. From one side, I heard the resounding call of "Anyone but Trump!" and from the other side, I heard "Anyone but Hilary!" This was a clear choice for some, and a harder one for others. A friend of mine told me that after she voted, she felt sick to her stomach over the choice she had made. We shouldn't have to feel sick to our stomachs over the choice of who should lead this nation.
Instead of making our vote a make or break option, I propose a different idea. Next election cycle, we need to make better choices regarding our nominees. I'm looking at both sides. There are respectable Democrats and there are respectable Republicans. Of course there are issues that neither side is going to be able to agree on. The grand diversity of our nation is one of the things that makes it great. I think that we can agree on some things, though. I think we can agree that next time we elect a nominee, we need to choose somebody a little closer to the middle, someone who has the capability of uniting our whole nation. We need to choose someone who tells the truth, someone who may be uncompromising concerning his or her beliefs, but who is at least tolerant of other's differing opinions. Someone who doesn't divide our country even further. Of course, people are going to be upset about the other party's candidate, and disappointed if that person wins, but I think it is possible to avoid the drama that was the fight over the presidency last year. I think that we can learn from what happened this time, and make it so that the next choice over our nation's leader doesn't feel so life or death.
Perhaps it isn't possible, but I, for one, have a little bit of hope. Join me?
