Dear President Trump,

Admittedly, I never was a big fan of you. Your buildings in New York are nice, but your campaign was absolutely ridiculous. You did, theoretically, everything wrong - you were racist, xenophobic and sexist; you mocked a disabled reporter, normalized rape culture and were so flippant towards the LGBTQ+ community that one could call you homophobic (your vice president very much is), among many other generally uncool things that you've said and done. I never called myself your supporter. And whenever I happened to say something favorable about you, I always qualified it with, "I'm definitely not a Trump supporter".

Yet here you are; it is January 21st and you were inaugurated yesterday. Against the majority of America's best wishes, you are our president and you are now one of the most powerful men in the world. A lot of people are protesting it and screaming about it (still), but, even though I'm not super thrilled about you leading my country, I'm not going to do that.

Instead, I'm going to hope that you are going to be different than your campaign made you sound. Perhaps you're just inexperienced and very bad at talking; maybe you didn't say what you meant, or your points got distorted.

I'm going to hope that you don't forget ALL of the minorities in America - from every race, sexual orientation and religion, you are the president of every American, and that means that it is your job to do what is best for every American. You hold a lot of power within the economy; please do not forget those in the lower classes who cannot simply take a "small loan of a million dollars" to pursue their passions. You hold the key to our military; please do not initiate conflicts in which innocent, normal civilians will lose their lives.

My teacher told us yesterday, "The way to deal with something you dislike is not to stick your head in the sand and pretend it's not there. It is to stand up tall and deal with it because life will not always give you things you approve of". I'm not going to sit here and immaturely proclaim that "you're not my president," because what will that solve? If everybody who would push for change just sticks their heads in the sand and yells that they are not a fan of yours so they are not going to acknowledge that you are, in fact, their president as long as they are American, how would anything get done?

You ARE our president; you are the president of every single American, whether or not you'd like to be. And that probably works out worse for you than for us, because you are still responsive to the people. Your Congress is responsive to the people. Your family is responsive to the people. You are a part of the government now, and, in a democracy, the government is run by and for the people.

So, as a civilian who will become of legal age during your first term and will therefore have the power to vote you out in four years, I am calling for you to remember that America is broader than perhaps you know. There are people from every corner of the earth, with every amount of money imaginable, of every religion imaginable, speaking every language imaginable and with every belief imaginable who are all looking to you as their leader. You must remember them in your policy, your speech and your actions.

I send you my best wishes and my strongest prayers for you and your family. I believe that you can redeem yourself in the eyes of America and that you can be a good, strong leader and bring about some much-needed change. I want to believe this, because a country in which we cannot at least have hope that our leader will succeed will not itself be successful.

Do I support you? I wouldn't say that. But I am willing to open my mind and give you a chance. Please give me a good world in which to finish growing up.