At the present moment, it’s hard for me to talk about anything other than the election that just happened in the United States. Even in Europe, it’s everywhere that I go. This has been a horrible week for the Democratic Party, but I don’t want to talk about that. This election divided our country almost purely in half. This election made me spiteful and scared. And this election, though it’s technically over, will affect us for years to come.

We cannot despair right now. We cannot sulk. We cannot stop.

This is by far the hardest article or essay that I have ever written, so bear with me while we all work through our thoughts and express our feelings at this tumultuous time.

I think that we are all searching for salvation in some sense and that there are very few things that will actually provide it. The government clearly isn’t saving anybody. God is supposed to save us, but I don’t think God is anywhere close to America. To me and plenty of other Americans, God is nonexistent anyways. Substance abuse will only plunge you further down the rabbit hole of despair and disorientation.

It may seem bleak, but we have two assets that are stronger than God and the government put together; we have each other, to stand together and to fight the gross injustices within our system, and we have our words which can propel us to places far greater than Heaven. The Electoral College elected Donald Trump, but 60,981,118 (and counting) Americans voted against him, enough to win Hillary Clinton the popular vote. Our 61 million voices were not silenced on the day of November 8, 2016. We may have lost a battle, but we did not lose the war.

Mind you, I am not attempting to negate how horrible this is for millions of people in the United States or people attempting to enter the United States. Fear is rampant at the present moment, as it should be. The United States just elected a man who has been compared to Hitler, and who has built a campaign on bigotry. I realize that as a white woman, I’m considerably safer than all of the people that “the Donald” has marginalized, and I do not want to undermine the fear or the heartbreak that millions of people from the United States are rightfully feeling. Recognizing my privilege does not take it away, but please know that I am deeply ashamed of the outcome of this election, and the circumstances that led to it.

Nor am I lamenting the loss of my preferred candidate. Though I am not happy that Hillary Clinton lost the votes from the Electoral College, I would not be scared for the sake of our country had Mitt Romney, Marco Rubio, or any other Republican Presidential candidate won this election. The issue is not that my candidate lost, or even that my party lost. The issue is that the person that won is not fit to run a diverse country. Aside from being the only President without any military experience or experience in public office, his campaign is dangerous. I personally encountered a Trump supporter this previous summer who yelled at my friends and I in an Olive Garden, and that was before he had won the Presidency. The Trump campaign has actually inspired violence. People are afraid for their lives and the lives of their families because of this election. The rhetoric in which he has used to gain followers tapped into hatred in which had apparently been lying dormant (more so than it had been before at least) until he gave it the chance to prevail.

What I would like to say to the Democrats, to women, to the LGBTQ Community, to every single immigrant, to every refugee, to every person of color, first of all, is that I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry for the pain that this election has caused you, and will continue to cause you. It's not okay. Don't let anybody tell you that it is.

Secondly, we cannot give up hope. Hope is dangerous but, like spoken and written word is incredibly powerful. We must use that hope to fuel our fires, and light the way through this dark, four-year long, night. To quote John Green, “We need never be hopeless because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are.” We can never be silenced and therefore we can never be completely defeated.

We can speak against this. Get ready to vote in 2018 for the House and the Senate. Support Candidates who will truly make America a better place for people of all nationalities, backgrounds, and classes. Write to politicians, sign petitions. Volunteer with organizations that support causes that you’re passionate about, like Planned Parenthood, or Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. We can make America a greater country even if we are not in control of the White House.

I know this is not good. But in the face of adversity, we can still be good.