I'm at a loss for words.

I stopped watching the news in high school because it was overwhelming to see all of the terrible things going on. Unfortunately, with how popular social media has become as a news source, I can't escape hearing about what's happening. Of course, although choosing to shield myself from the news can be seen as ignorant, watching our country rapidly deteriorate is extremely hard.

As a young adult, I should be looking forward to experiencing the world. I have my whole life ahead of me and being an American citizen, I have it a hell of a lot better than young adults in a lot of other countries. While I'm appreciative of that, I fear what's to come in our country.

This is my first time voting and of the two options I have, it's comparable to choosing between getting my leg broken by a friend or breaking my leg myself- both options suck and either way, I lose, but at least I can choose how I lose. I mean- our two president candidates actually engaged in a Twitter argument, which is nothing short of extremely embarrassing to me as an American citizen.

When it comes to the amount of violence that has occurred- I'm appalled. I've been alive for the three deadliest mass shootings in American history (Orlando, 2016- 50 people killed), (Virginia Tech, 2007- 32 killed), and (Sandy Hook, 2012- 27 killed). I can remember all of these events vividly, and I'm still shaken up that such gun violence is so prevalent in our country.

I fear the future of our nation, I see our leaders falling off track and our citizens outraged and turning against one another and it's all so terrifying.

It's nuts to think that our country was founded by immigrants, but shuns immigrants as they continue to come to our country. It's horrifying to think that after abolishing slavery, going through the Civil Rights Movement, and having an African American president, we still are advocating for Black lives. It's depressing to see that the "right to bear arms" is the reason for so many senseless deaths. It's outrageous to have to be a woman and fear enjoying a drink out with your friends because our judicial system thinks that 3 months in jail is justice for a man raping an unconscious woman.

Acknowledging that many people are culturally different than one another is one of the best ways to dissolve feelings of judgment and racism, which we often fail to do. I can't propose a solution that would magically fix all of these issues, but it could start with people acknowledging what is right and what is wrong.