Dear Secretary Clinton,
In preparation for this open letter, I had opened a new tab on my already heavily decorated Google Chrome browser and proceeded to type out, "What is the proper title to address Hillary Clinton." I was brought to a website called Forms of Address, and what I read made me smile, because the author, Robert Hickey, instructs to refer to you as "The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton." That’s what I’ve always thought of you as, honorable.
I have always been strong in my beliefs, even when I was a child. Finding strong, confident, empowering female leaders was like a hobby to me, writing down their names and putting aside time reading about them.
Peer pressure and taking after those around you when you are growing into an adolescent is an indisputable fact. I was no exception. I can easily recall a mock ballot election in elementary school when I scribbled out John Kerry on my ballot and instead bubbled in George W. Bush just because my fellow students around me were all tossing their sheets of loose-leaf paper into the Bush bin. My point is not to say that in elementary school I displayed excellent party loyalty, but I can’t help but struggle to remember any other instances of not having a sense of pride in my Democratic affiliation.
Around that same youthful primary school age, I began my long running love of history and politics that blossomed from fascination in homework to desire for a career in the area - which is only growing as I pursue a degree in public relations.
Fast forward a few years after that mock election to the 2008 presidential election, and imagine my awe when you announced you would be running for president. I was young, but I was not completely naive about the political world. I had been touched by your endless efforts for women and children. A desire to have you as president was not just fueled by the knowledge that you are a woman, but the knowledge I had of what you had done for women.
Years passed by, and with those years I became more politically aware and acquired personal anecdotes behind my beliefs and reasons for continually backing you.
As you fought to diminish the wage gap, I read statistics detailing that very same thing in high school textbooks, I would wonder how this can be fixed rather than just a simple shake of my head.
I spent my first ever college spring break volunteering in the most impoverished areas of Chicago and solemnly experienced the heartache those you help face on a daily basis.
As you fought for equality and the legalization of same sex marriage, I spoke for equality and yearned for my best friend and the LGBT community to live their lives happily rather than living them in fear.
As I work hard to pay off student loans that have not even been billed to me yet, you campaign for a cheaper way for people like myself to go college and spend their time after graduation going after career opportunities rather than paying off a mountain of debt.
When I was a child I would search for powerful women to look up to and call role models. I found that in you through the way you rose to the top, and in turn, helped those at the bottom.
As you campaign throughout the country in this whirlwind of an election, I anticipate to bubble in your name.
