There has been a lot of unrest in the nation following the results of November 8th, a day that will, no doubt, go down in history. We can only hope that it will be a good thing. I myself, am deeply concerned for the well being of this country after Trump's win, but I am trying really hard to move on. It has required a lot of stress eating and recreational TV watching.
It is difficult to move past worrying about the future of a nation, and I know it won't happen for me at least until I hear Trump's inauguration speech in January. What I hope is that his speech will revolve around making this country a stronger nation internally fighting for better education and foreign policies. But, I'm scared that the focus will be on banning entire groups of people, starting wars with foreign nations, and disregarding the work done towards slowing climate change. Because that's all I've heard this entire campaign season. And for some people, those are good things to hear. But for some, they are terrifying. I do not know what it is like to be a minority, and I refuse to play the victim when I am not one, but I do worry for the people around me, my friends, the environment, my friends' families. What I hope is that the hate crimes in Trump's name cease, and that we begin to support each other and show love to one another in the coming four years.
There are many people un-friending others on social media over politics and over opinion, and I have, admittedly, done this as well, but I think that only contributes the problems our nation faces. We should, myself included, start to have civil conversations about the election results and what comes next. We should try to understand each side, even if we don't agree. We should try to respect each other and not yell at each other. We should try to out ourselves in other people's shoes and look at all of the possibilities facing us. That is the only way there will be growth and change in the next few years. If you voted for Trump, you wanted change, right? If you voted for Clinton, you wanted smaller change, right? See, we all want a change, and I hate to be the one to say it, but no president will change this nation if the people are unwilling to follow.
It is our time, as friends, neighbors, family, peers, elders, and Americans to work together to make this nation as strong as it used to be. One political candidate should not be able to divide a country the way it is. One candidate should not be able to make people spew hatred and ignorance at one another. We must realize, whether Trump supporter or not, that the only way to make any election result worthwhile is to stand together: not as Muslims, not as black people, not as white people, not as Christians, not as Atheists, but as Americans. Our nationality must be stronger than our differences when it comes to politics.
