The first time I realized there was something truly wrong in today's world, was when I was a senior in high school. I know that's relatively late, but I spent most of my life pretty sheltered from the outside world; from my privilege as a white woman to the place I grew up, I was not shown the many "bad" or "unsavory" things in the world.

Then I took this class at Central Campus in Des Moines, Iowa called Urban Leadership. It focused on (and still focuses on) different social justice issues here in the U.S. -- from immigration to black power to feminism we covered a whole host of things. And I learned so much more than I ever thought I would. I learned that these problems I thought didn't exist, very much did. I learned that no one in this world was truly equal with one another, and I learned that there was also something I could to do help; whether volunteer, raise my voice, or educate others.

But I learned one more important lesson: a lot of people ignore these problems.

It seems almost impossible but it was true then and it's true now. The majority of the public would rather ignore the problems with incarceration, the relentless fight for rights like clean water and air, and those being murdered because they identify as a different gender than that they were born with.

I remember asking one of my teachers of the class how people could ignore these big problems especially when so many take place in their own backyard.

She told me that it wasn't our job to force others to use their voice -- it was our job to raise our own voices and lead with love.

But leading with love is hard. It seems simple enough, but put into practice, when I'm arguing against people who believe all Muslims should be banned from the United States, when I'm sparring against those who don't believe LGBTQ+ people should exist, when I'm struggling to understand those who say darker skin makes people inherently bad, it suddenly becomes a lot harder.

It's become increasingly clear to me that these opinions are formed from ignorance; formed half-baked facts, a few extreme circumstances, and from the famous people that perpetrate them (I'm looking at you Tomi Lahren and Donald Trump). And leading with love, would mean breaking their ignorance right? It should mean educating them, and hoping that if they had all the facts if they just realized the dangers of being ignorant and hidden from the problems of the world, they would see that they've been arguing and rallying against the wrong side. They would see that they're leading with hate, while we're leading with love.

Of course, it's not that simple. That's not how it works.

And while it would be nice to live in that ideal world where everyone got along, and there were no arguments about basic human rights being awarded to all humans, that's not the world we live in. So instead we have to fight for what we believe in. We have to fight for what's right.

We have to arm ourselves with knowledge and with the facts. We have to protect our hearts with the truth that we are fighting for the right thing. We make our masks out of the other's refusal to hear our pleading words. But we carry no swords, no cannons, and no daggers.

Instead, we carry our conviction to lead with love. Only this and this alone will grant us progress, in our many fights against ignorance and injustice.

I'm not saying to stop going toe to toe with others. I'm not saying to stop arguing, to stop busing boundaries. I'm not saying to stop doing what you believe is right. But you don't have to hurt others to do it. Physical pain is not a necessary or productive way of achieving our goal. Neither are hurtful names or mean taunts. They can throw them at us -- but when they go low; we go high.

Ignorance will one day be eliminated. Injustice will one day stop. But it takes dedicated people who believe in change. It takes fierce warriors of all kinds, of all backgrounds. But most of all?

It takes those who will always, always, lead with love.

Special thanks to Movement 515, my Urban Leadership gang, Mama Lang, and Rollo for always having my back even when I'm not in DSM. Y'all inspire me every day. <3