I just recently turned 18. Like most 18-year-olds, I was excited to start this next chapter in my life: adulthood. Now that I'm officially an adult, I'm allowed to do a lot of things I couldn't before. I can buy a scratch ticket, play the lottery, and open my own bank account. Most importantly, I am now old enough to vote.

Personally, I was super excited to be able to vote. I'd never given too much thought to politics before since I wasn't old enough to have any say in it. However, I really started paying close attention during this year's election because I knew it would be important. Plus, I turned 18 just in time to be able to participate in voting for our next president, which I thought was really cool.

While it's all very exciting and somewhat confusing, this election is also extremely terrifying. When I first heard that Donald Trump was running for president, I assumed it was a joke. I remembered watching Celebrity Apprentice with my mom and thinking, "Wow, he's a jerk." There was no way a man like that was actually running, right?

I wish I'd been right. In the many months since the election has officially kicked off, I've been following up on everything I can about it. I've read countless things about Trump, most of which just make me hate him even more than I originally did. I've done research to see if the statements being said about him are true or not, and find that most of them are unfortunately true. As I said, I've never been into politics but lately, I've been pretty passionate about it. Now that I have a say in how our country is going to be run, I'm genuinely worried about the future.

A lot of people (mainly Trump supporters) argue that he's really not a bad guy, and he's just said mean things. Obviously yes, many of the things he says sound like they are coming from the mouth of a seven-year-old bully on a playground. But that's not the reason I hate him. In my opinion, Trump is a racist, xenophobic, misogynistic man who really shouldn't have control over a country. From a young age, everyone is taught that America is a "melting pot," a place where everyone can come to be free and equal. While that's unfortunately not always true, we have made great strides in history that are helping us get there.

I firmly believe that electing Donald Trump will only push our country back instead of help us move forward. He wants to keep people out of America instead of inviting them in. It's important to make sure we know who we're letting in, but it's not fair in any way to assume that just because someone is not from here, that they must be a terrorist. Trump clearly has this type of belief, if his grand 'wall' idea is anything to go by. But aside from trying to keep people from Mexico out, he's also very racist toward Muslim people, simply due to their religion.

Trump exemplifies racial and religious intolerance. He and many of his supporters are firm believers that Muslims are here to "take over America". Well, Muslims have been in this country for over four-hundred years. That's longer than most peoples' family ties go back here. Trump himself said his own grandparents immigrated here. Muslims have been here longer than the Trumps.

Assuming that all people belonging to a certain religion are out to get us is just ridiculous. I have had to listen to Trump supporters go on about how every Muslim person is a part of ISIS. Following that logic, all Christians must be part of the KKK. (Trump actually has family ties to the KKK, but of course, that doesn't matter, right?)

If some of these people bothered to do some research, they'd find that the Muslim religion follows the Quran, which is basically their version of the Bible. The Quran teaches them to be peaceful, and not condone violence. ISIS and other Muslim extremists follow a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, potentially including the promotion of violence to achieve political goals. This is only a small portion of the religion, much like how a small portion of Christians chose to condone the KKK.

On many occasions, I have seen and heard Trump supporters hating someone simply because they dress according to their religion. Wearing a Burka or headscarf doesn't automatically make someone a terrorist. That's the same as persecuting Catholics for wearing a cross around their neck, or Jewish people for wearing a Kippah. It's ridiculous and frankly terrifying that people can think that way, especially in 2016. We live in a country where we're supposed to have freedom of religion, so we shouldn't be condemning anyone for expressing those freedoms. People don't come here expecting to change themselves in order to be protected. We should protect them regardless.

I think part of that should be protecting them from Donald Trump. If that man becomes president, I'm afraid for what our country will become. I don't want to be raising my children someday in the future, and have to tell them about a time when America was free. Future generations should be more progressed than we are currently. It's important that we don't hand someone as narcissistic and divisive as Trump the keys to the Oval Office.

All I can hope is that everyone who is eighteen or older uses their privilege to vote in the best interest of our country and its people. No matter where you are in the U.S., please make sure you're registered to vote. Don't let your voice be left out of the conversation.