Donald J. Trump is the 45th President of the United States. That is a sentence I never thought I would write.
While searching for something to write for this week I scrolled through my social media feeds. I saw an alarming amount of posts that looked like prophecies from Nostradamus. “This is the END!”, “Last American President!”, “Canada here I come”, etc. etc. The sheer amount of tweets, Facebook posts and Snapchat stories made me ignore my phone for a few hours.
But the most alarming thing was that most of the posts was everyone seemed to give up. A majority of the posts were all “doom and gloom,” but none of them managed to offer any mention of how they were going to enact change.
A great number of people have been voicing two ways of dealing with Trump: accept him and hope for the best, or be pessimistic and sulking. Both of these, in my opinion, are unacceptable.
Let’s start with blind acceptance and hope. I have hope in the future of America. But that does not mean I will be submissive to what the new government changes. In a democracy, people are represented indirectly through representatives and Senators. If you don’t like what your elected officials are doing, do not waste 140 characters on a passive aggressive tweet, send him or her a letter! If you get no response, send another letter. Let your representative hear your voice. If election season comes around and you disapprove of your representative’s performance, volunteer for his opponent.
People seem to have this pessimistic notion that we have no power. They also believe that because we have no power, that we don’t matter. But both of these claims are wrong. You matter. You have power. You can bring change.
How can you bring change? Look back on all the greatest movements for change in history. Notice what they all have in common? An unwillingness to back down.
Your opponents want you to give in, it makes their lives easier. If you keep fighting for what you believe in, the world can be the way it is in your dreams.
If you don’t fight to keep your rights, they will be taken away. If you are angry, scared, or disgusted with the new government, show them. You cannot back down. Join up with friends and create a letter campaign. Organize a march that will get media attention. Peacefully protest in a public square.
Your actions will influence others. Those others will influence more people. The scariest thing for politicians is the masses turned against them.
Stop writing that tweet. Quit sulking in Starbucks. Get out and change the world. Change lies inside of you.
