Take a second.
Think. Think really hard.
Think about what you have said over the past few days. Whether it was in person, on social media, under your breath, think.
Think about what you have said to your family members, your neighbors, your co-workers, your teachers, your friends, but especially think about what you've said about people that you have never met.
Are you happy with yourself? Are you content and pleased? Or are you uncomfortable and a little ashamed? Or are you neutral? You haven't really said anything too mean, but you also haven't been perfect.
I ask these questions because we need to realize that with every passing day, we are slipping further and further away from humanity and being a decent human being. People will blame Trump, they will blame Hillary, they will blame anyone that they can to get away from the uncomfortable topic of looking at their own character. I can tell you for a fact that whoever you are, Trump did not make you that way. Secretary Clinton did not make you that way. Neither of these individuals have fundamentally shaped who you are. You choose to be who you are each and every single day.
I also challenge you to think really hard about something else.
Think about your privilege. I will share mine with you:
I am white, I am cisgender, I am heterosexual, I am of average to above average socioeconomic status, I am college educated.
To be completely honest with myself, I do have a lot of privilege. With the exception that I am a young woman. People like myself do not often realize the privilege and power that we hold in our day to day lives. It is our responsibility to stand up for those without voices. And as if this task wasn't hard enough, we have to do it by speaking out against our own like-minded peers. Indeed, this is a tall task to ask of someone, but I believe it is the only way we have any chance to be united again.
When women are cat-called and degraded, it is the job of men to say that is wrong.
When transgendered people are attacked violently, it is the job of cisgendered people to say that is wrong.
When people of color are attacked with racial slurs and derogatory comments, it is the job of white people to say that is wrong.
When gay people are shot and beaten, it is the job of heterosexual people to say that is wrong.
It also takes those who voted for President-elect Trump to speak out against him when he steps out of line.
We have forgotten what it means to listen, we have forgotten what it means to "agree to disagree", we have forgotten that it is OK for someone to have an opinion that differs from yours, we have forgotten that you don't have to be right 100% of the time, because frankly, you're not.
What we desperately need to re-learn is how to be compassionate. How to be empathetic. How to be not only open-minded, but to have an open heart. Almost every single major religion in the world calls for its followers to love the person that you disagree with. It also means standing up for what is right and defending against what is inhumane.
We do not live in "Trump's America". We live in America, where we are all Americans and we have seem to forgotten that we are all in this together.
Mr. Trump, I wish you the best of luck with your Presidency. I hope and pray that somehow our country can come together and stand united. I also hope and pray that the people I walk past every single day can learn sympathy and empathy and realize that there is hope. But the secret is that it begins with each and every one of us willing to look inside of ourselves and be willing and ready to change.
