I hate discussing politics. I avoid it at all costs. I ran into traffic a week ago to avoid the man preaching his political views to the local people. It’s not because I am uninformed on the issues and don’t know what I am talking about, it’s because I am tired of the hate and divide it has caused.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Personally, I don't care if you are Republican, Democrat or somewhere in-between. I don’t care if you publicly express your views or don’t discuss them at all. I care if you ridicule someone for supporting a different ideal than you simply because they don’t share your world views. It is completely unnecessary to tear someone apart over the fact that you have different opinions.

We were all raised in different settings. Many of us pride ourselves on being unique, and we have all developed different views on the world because we faced our own experiences that shaped us in distinct ways. These unique qualities we develop contribute to our political views. The chemistry of our brains is essentially unique to our own selves, so it is to no surprise that we do not all agree on the major issues America faces today.

Most seem to think that our main problem is the fact that we were left to choose between two extremely controversial and disrespected candidates, which, in part is true, but it is not the only place we as a country went wrong. We divided. We wasted time going at each other's throats about why the opposing side was wrong when in reality, none of us were right. We spent more time creating controversy than compromise. So many of us became so close minded that we were unaware of the fate our country was soon to face.

Now that the election is over, everyone is looking up from their computer screens and Facebook walls wondering how the hell we let it come to this. We live in a democracy where opinions should be respected, yet we act as if our own opinions are the end all be all. There is no one right answer in politics, so why are we fighting to the death over these issues when we could put our ideas together to attempt to reach a middle ground? Our job as citizens is to exercise the rights we fought so hard for so we can make change for the better. Somehow this time we got so caught up in our own priorities that we forgot what we truly stand for.

There was a time when the words spoken by JFK, “... ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,” meant something, yet here we are putting our own personal agendas before the well being of our country. Whether you are gloating, mourning, or simply accepting the results of the election, we must all realize that America needs our support because we are facing drastic change. For the better or worse depends on your views, but I personally think it has yet to be determined. For once we need to put our hate and personal pride aside to focus on the future of our country.