I never thought I would be writing this piece. If you came to me a year ago, I would have told you Bernie Sanders was going to be our next president. If you came to me six months ago, I would have told you Hillary Clinton was going to be our president. We are literally living in a worst case scenario situation -- a nightmare for young liberals such as myself.

My generation spent our adolescence and early adulthood under one of America's greatest presidents. I am so thankful that I got to see this man in office and see that you truly can do some good in such a dark world. And, although we were probably too young to be politically active, we had the privilege to watch change happen. The change that we wanted to see, the love we wanted to be shown -- President Barack Obama did some incredible things over the last four years.

Many of us cried during his farewell address, and a sense of dread is now washing over the country. In less than a week, Donald J. Trump will be named our president. And while we keep waiting for someone to fess up and say that this is all some sort of sick joke, that precisely is not going to happen.

In less than a week, we will go from a man who has displayed true patriotism and love, caring, and compassion for all citizens, to a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic demagogue with absolutely no political experience to lead our country and be the face of America to others (who, by the way, are already taking him as a complete joke).

He takes no form of criticism (as we have seen from his temper tantrums on his Twitter account), attacking those who do not agree with him. I am a sophomore in college, and I have accepted the fact that not everyone is going to like/agree with what I have to say. What does that say about the President-Elect's maturity level?

His cabinet appointments are terrifying -- with each appointment featuring someone who either has no experience in their assigned field (Dr. Ben Carson, for example), or someone who is guaranteed to completely deface what they are put in charge of (Betsy DeVoss).

And somehow, somehow, his supporters still follow him and wave their confederate flags. These people do not comprehend exactly what is going to happen in this country, and they certainly do not comprehend that their beloved candidate is going to get us all killed with his Twitter account.

With that being said, we cannot be passive over the next four years. Earlier in a class this week, my professor asked us "what is democracy?" a student next to me said, "to put it simply, having a vote." and I said, "to simplify that even further, the right to have a voice."

So while many people believe that our work stops at Election Day, it does not. We are still able to have a voice when schools call off on a Tuesday to set up precincts and we stand in line and deal with grouchy volunteers and even grouchier voters. It goes so much further beyond that. We protest, we fight, we scream so loud that it is physically impossible for anyone to drown out the sound. We call Senators and Representatives, because that's their job, to be the people's voice in office and notify them when we are dissatisfied with something.

Your voice is not just a vote, it is so many other actions and decisions. And while we were able to live freely under President Obama, we have to be willing to work to maintain the progress he made during his eight-year presidency.

This is so surreal to many of us, it's surreal for me, too, but we can't stop here. We have to keep being an active part in what goes on in the country we inhabit. Because if we do otherwise, the unfathomable may occur; and I will not stand to see that happen