Alright. So now here we are in a new age in America. An Age from “A Change We Can Believe In” from Obama’s 2008 campaign, to an age of “Make America Great Again” from Donald Trump’s campaign. From an age of positivity and looking to better ourselves, to a negative idea that we as a nation aren’t great and need fixing. I stayed up as late as I could on November 8th 2016 to watch the election coverage as most people. I made it up till 11pm. I went to bed with my hopes already crushed seeing how ahead Donald Trump was in the electoral college votes. I woke up with no surprise that Donald Trump was now President Trump, but it does not mean I wasn’t almost moved to tears by the news. I began reviewing all the things I have heard him say about different american citizens, some immigrants, and different minorities and began to wonder… Make America Great for Who?
I, like many, took to facebook after the election. I was scared. I am part of the LGBTQ+ community, I am a woman, and I have a diverse friend group. I knew there was going to be disheartened people posting on facebook, but there was more than that. There was support. I wished to hug so many people. Many were expressing their fear, not for themselves exactly, but for friends and family members who many live lives as one of the many groups Trump has condemned and disrespected. So many people reaching out to their family members, their friends, all making sure they knew they still had support no matter what was said by our soon-to-be-president. The love I can tell was to cover people’s own sadness that in our politics, hate trumped over love. Many people went out of their way that day to be kinder. During the day, I had my father text me telling me he was thinking of me and loved me. The amount of love on a day where hate seemed to have won, drowned out what seemed to be negatively said on that day. And 2 days after, people just a woman wishing to spread love through her town, started an event to spread love through chalk drawings in what started as just Griffith Indiana, but soon spread to other states as the event was shared [Neighborhood Love Notes].
So for those wondering what to do about the situation, just keep spreading love and support. Originally when I was asked to do a piece on politics I was expecting to rant, be negative, and just further expand hate, just the opposite direction. But it hit me after seeing all the love trying to be spread, that I would be just the same. Sure we can be angry and afraid, but I would be repeating things most people have heard already. So I end with this simple reminder:
We live on the same planet, why not
in peace.
