To my way of thinking, 2016 was a pretty bad year. We lost many incredible people and elected a dishonest, ignorant fraud of a businessman to replace President Barack Obama. I am both shocked and appalled that my country would elect a man like Donald Trump to our most prestigious office. When the election happened, I found myself unable to make sense of it all. Then a saw an article about screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, discussing a letter he had written to his daughters after Trump’s victory, explaining what they were going to do to fight against him and why they couldn’t let themselves feel defeated. It was then that I saw things a bit more clearly.
Recently, a Trump supporter told me that “everything was said and done” regarding our incoming president and that people like me should “just give up.” It really got me thinking. A few months ago, musician Charlie Daniels was featured in a video ad for the NRA in which he told the terrorists who would threaten us that they hadn’t met the “real America” yet.” When my colleague told me that I couldn’t do anything about Trump being elected, I knew that I had a message for him. If you think I, and those like me, am just going to give up, then you don’t know us at all. You haven’t met us yet. You haven’t met the real millennials.
People love to talk about the "liberal elites" who are being blamed in some circles for Trump being elected. They love to lump college students such as myself into that category, but make no mistake; we are not all cut from the same cloth. You may have met the so-called “social justice warriors” who preach the modern day equivalent of fire and brimstone on Facebook and Tumblr, but they do not by any means represent our entire generation. You haven’t met the recent college graduates who have built their own companies dedicated to solving problems in their industries that created new jobs for the American workforce. You haven’t met the young technological masterminds who’ve used their skills to create programs built around protecting the important data of companies both large and small. You haven’t met the college students whose first move after the election was to start writing letters to their state senators detailing their concerns regarding the new president-elect. You haven’t met the new generation of writers, thinkers, leaders, and innovators. But you’re about to.
We writers know that the pen is mightier than the sword or any other weapon that Donald Trump will try to make use of. I am prepared to do my part to fight against the walking abomination that is about to enter the White House, and I know that there are many others who will do the same. In the words of Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to stand by and do nothing.” I think this past election has taught us that such a sentiment is definitely true. I know that my generation is not giving up. We’re just getting started. The world we are about to inherit may not look so great right now, but if we don’t keep fighting, it’s only going to keep getting worse. The time to fight is now and in times of crisis, everyone’s true colors are revealed. The people who cast their votes for Donald Trump and voted in opposition of equal rights likely neglected to take a few things into consideration. One thing is for sure, though. They didn’t realize that the millennial “liberal elites” they were trying to strike back at will not be so easily silenced. If you think we’re giving up, then you definitely haven’t met us yet.
