Ever since I was a little girl, my parents and grandparents have always told me there were two things you never talked about during dinner: Religion and politics. However, despite the fact that they "banned" those topics, they never fail to come up all the time. We could be sitting at our dinner table in my kitchen or at a restaurant and somehow someone will bring up that one time George W. Bush said this or how Barack Obama did that. With the 2016 presidential elections right around the corner, it seems these conversations happen more and more often.

The other day during my mom's birthday dinner at her favorite restaurant, my grandpa and my mom started talking about the Republican debate in New Hampshire, which led to them asking what candidate I supported. As we were conversing and debating which candidate did the best, a man walked over to us who I believe was the owner of the restaurant. The first words out of his mouth were, "Want to know what the best thing about Donald Trump is?"

My mouth dropped open and I was racking my brain with what I could possibly answer. I did not want to offend this man I did not even know, but my opinions on Trump aren't exactly all positive. After giving him a blank expression, he looked back at me and laughed. Immediately, all I could think about was how this man either thinks I am crazy or he is crazy.

"Donald Trump is getting people that are your age to actually care about the election. With some of the more interesting things that he is saying, he is gaining recognition on social media. Social media is the way to connect with you guys. I don't care at the end of the day who you vote for, what is getting me excited is the way you are actually talking about voting," he said.

I then started to talk to him about how Bernie Sanders was the one who originally piqued my interest about this election. Just as Trump has seen a lot of social media reactions, both positive and negative, so has Sanders. While everyone continues to have their opinions on not only these candidates, but on all of the others, as well, it is good to know my generation is expressing their opinions on something that is this important. For some of my friends and I, this will be our first presidential election that we get to vote in.

Our voice is going to be heard this year. While some of you may despise the idea of Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders in office, at least they are all getting us talking. By starting this conversation, they are also encouraging us to not only research more information about candidates but also on the hot topics like immigration, race and gun control. Each of them are important on the campaign trail and hot on the social media trail. How many of you can say you scroll through your Facebook without seeing at least one article or statement about either of them?

There is a very important lesson that needs to be taken away from this article: It is in fact OK to talk about politics.