Friday was the Inauguration of the 45th President of the United States. I watched the ceremony with a deep sense of pride and feeling of hope. You see, for the past 8 years, I maintained a steady level of disinterest in the President and his family. I kept up enough with his policies to know how it would affect my life, such as healthcare policies.
I was in ninth grade when Obama became president. At that time, it didn’t mean much to me. I knew my parents weren’t happy about it, but I didn’t know why it mattered that much. To me, the President was the person who gave a speech on 9/11 and who dealt with foreign affairs. Up to that point, I’d never really felt that the president could have an effect on my everyday life.
It wasn’t until I came home from school one day and saw my mom crying because of how much health insurance costs had skyrocketed that I began to understand what a President was capable of.
Long story short, I quickly learned exactly why I wanted to see Obama leave the office. Over the last four years of his time as President, I learned more and more about the different ways his policies hurt various people in my life. So by the time the most recent election cycle kicked off, I started really paying attention to what the candidates were saying. For a while, I was even convinced that I was going to vote for a Libertarian. In the end, I voted for Trump in the hopes that his promises were true—the same reason that many people voted for Obama in his first and second terms.
Make no mistake, Trump was not at the top of my list out of all of the candidates. However, like much of America, the end result was choosing between Trump or Hillary, and I felt that a vote for Hillary would be a vote for 4-8 more years of Obama’s America.
So yesterday, I felt joy and hope, but then I felt confusion at the people rioting in the streets; wondering what they felt they accomplished by smashing in a Starbucks window or burning a limo?
As tensions rose after the inauguration, I saw a barrage of posts from people on the right that were along the lines of, “Finally, we have a real first lady” and other rude posts along those lines insulting the Obama family. While I was happy to see the end of Obama’s time as President, I am not happy to see all of the negativity and bitterness that came with it.
Maybe it’s because the President used Twitter, and because he and Michelle participated in a lot of things that made them seem relatable—like Michelle rapping in a cab. Maybe people felt like the President was much more accessible than in previous times, and they’re not just saying goodbye to him as President, but they feel like they’re saying goodbye to a friend. I don’t fully understand all of the hateful behavior, but I can understand why the left is feeling such a strong loss.
What I don’t understand is why the right is firing right back with more hateful words. When you win, you behave graciously. President Trump has not always been the epitome of gracious—but as someone I work with said, "You don’t get your values from the President, you get your values from your family and from your religion." I celebrated Trump’s win, because I felt it was a win for America as a whole. Not because I wanted to say racist comments or compare a photo of Michelle on her worst day with a picture of Melania on her best day.
If for no other reason, I would call on my fellow Trump voters to be kind in their words because Mr. and Mrs. Obama have daughters. They did not ask to be part of the scrutiny that comes with being in the public eye. It was the hand they were dealt. Think of how it feels to have your mother compared to an orangutan? Think of how difficult it must be to be younger than 20 and feel the dislike of thousands of people for no other reason than being the daughter of a former president. The Obamas are God's people, too. No one is perfect, and no one deserves that much hate over trying to do the best they could. Now someone else gets a chance to make a positive change. Let's stop being negative, and celebrate that.
Be gracious and you will deserve grace in your bad times, also.
