November 9th was a big day in America. I'm not here to express my political side, that's what Facebook memes are for of course. I'm also not here to pick out every negative, offending remark Trump has said because at this point, we have heard them all and we are aware of them, and that would just be leading us in the opposite direction of hope. The truth is, a ton of people were shocked by the results, a lot of people were sad, many were scared, and others were happy. There's no right or wrong opinions or feelings, we all have the right to express however we feel. There's no right or wrong beliefs. All I ask for you is to be kind to one another, to respect others and base your opinions on others solely by how they treat you and how their personality is, rather than their gender, race, religion, looks, or sexual preference.
Many of us have positive outlooks on the future by this presidential choice, which gives me hope. We all want the best for each other and for America, hopefully. We all want to be happy in our own skin and accept others for who they are. We all want to be able to express our true identities without any backlash or negative comments from a bystander that has no educational background on us.
It's not the end of the world. It's the beginning of a really awesome movement. There's not a name for this movement. It's more of a feeling. As an open-minded millennial, maybe it's easier for me to become aware of this feeling, but if you have no idea what I'm talking about, search out to find other inspirational humans who are standing up for who they are and what they believe in, regardless of feeling powerless. After this election happened, there was a very heavy and deep feeling of anger and sadness instilled in some of us. This anger and sadness were built up by all different kinds of reasons- feeling completely defeated by Trump's win because of how offended you have felt by his remarks, or maybe you are a minority yourself and now you feel as if nobody understands you, or is on your side. This anger and sadness slowly starts to develop inside. We have all felt different emotions by this election, and as sad and scary as it has been, there is always a positive side to everything, and like this one, we can see really great, positivity from all of these intense emotions bubbling up inside some of us.
Epiphanies start to bloom and nourish. These intense emotions start to boil up creative ideas. We not only feel, but we know we are powerful. We are more motivated than ever to do something. This is our time. We are invested in our country. We care for others, we feel their pain. The feeling I was talking about earlier, that feeling you can't put into words, it's sort of like being so passionate about something that all you can do is feel it in your bones and are so ready to take action. You can take small actions, like the safety pin movement. People all across the country are wearing a simple safety pin on their shirts to indicate that they are safe to approach and talk to regardless of gender, religion, race, etc. Others have taken bigger actions, including protests from all different cities across the nation, standing up against Trump's attacking comments on immigrants and women. But what really matters is that we are expressing our voices. We are invested in making a better world. We are more than ever encouraged to go out of our way and spread the love even more. We have slowly came together, linked hands, of all races, religions, gender, etc., and we are now taking steps towards hope.
We are now at the point where all we can do is accept. I accept what our reality is. Donald Trump, I accept you. Whoever is reading this, regardless of political views, I accept you. I accept every single human out there- whether you are gay, whether you are black, whether you are racist. I accept everyone for who they are because it is not my right or my place to try to understand why someone is the way they are, when I know I never will be able to fully understand. All I can do is love and accept. All I can do is educate those who are close-minded. All I can do is have hope for America.
Everything happens for a reason. Some think we hit rock bottom just to have a huge wake up call and start spreading more peace than ever, others think we have made the best decision and everything will be okay.
Regardless of how you feel, please know that I accept you. I have hope for you. I have hope for me. I have hope for us.
Respect each other. Instead of judging somebody because they are different than what you think is right, accept differences instead. Don't have automatic fear when you see somebody who is different than you, be grateful that we get to live in such a diverse world where we are constantly learning more. Most importantly, if anybody makes you feel like you are not worth it, or that you deserve less because of your gender, race, religion, etc., don't take it to heart. Their opinion does not define you. Their opinion isn't the truth.
Please continue to love one another and not be judgmental to others based on their race, religion, gender, etc. Get more educated on topics that you automatically put down in negativity. 2016 is such a wild year. We are all so different, weird, and assertive, it is truly amazing.
