I’ve been postponing writing about the election because I wanted to give myself some time to do some critical thinking, collecting my thoughts and emotions. But after a week of still trying to come to grips with the results, I’m ready. *So please respect my views as I would yours!

Sometimes things don’t work out the way we want them to. I think that life is supposed to go this way to remind us that we can’t always get what we want and that way when we do, it’s that much sweeter. I remember how I felt back on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008. I was in the eighth grade when President Obama won his first term. Not only was it exciting to see a man of color standing on the podium giving an acceptance speech, but I agreed with a lot of his policies (believe it or not I was way more into politics while in middle school and high school, now I’ve grown just tired of them). Right now a lot of people are hurt. I think people are more saddened than angry, but they are portraying that sadness as outrage, using it to power through and influence others, which can sometimes be an awesome thing when it’s put to a positive purpose. I’m still having a hard time understanding how we can go from what I feel like is one extreme to another. But I think this election outcome has been a really great wake up call, for both sides. It’s been giving us a taste of what Trump supporters and non Trump supporters are really feeling. Not only that, but we started paying more attention to the voting process, we’ve started to question it’s system and how it decides the presidential winner, we’ve started to question policy making more, we’ve started to question the government more, we’ve started to pay more attention to the people living in the United States and their impact on our society. We’ve started to use social media to spark outrage, happiness, protests, but most importantly, discussions. This is why I love being a “millennial” sometimes we forget how powerful we are, how much we can influence ourselves and others, but also how much we can influence the media & even the government if we try hard enough. This election woke a lot of people up, and if Trump needed to be the person to make people see how badly things are divided, then so be it.

I’ve decided that we don’t know the real Trump yet. His viewpoints in interviews from the 90’s seem different than the ones he’s stated now. Maybe he’s experienced some things we will never be fully able to grasp. Remember we never really know what a person has gone through under the surface until they decide to share it with us. For this reason along with the fact that I’m still trying to practice being a person who doesn’t judge someone I don’t know or fully understand yet, I’ve decided I owe him at least an ounce of an opportunity to show me. I would also want this same kind of respect if Hillary or any other candidate would have won. What I can almost guarantee you though is that the some of the same people who are outraged at people for protesting Trumps victory, would be doing the exact same thing if Hillary won. So lets not bash people on their views if we would be doing the same thing in a different situation. For this, I’ve also come to realize as of right now Trump isn’t the person I have a problem with. It’s the supporters that practice such strong hate against individuals for their race, ethnicity, and religious practices. To use such strong words of hate against someone for things that they sometimes have no control over baffles me. Being a woman of mixed races, it hurts me. It kills me to see us treating our friends, families, professors, and neighbors with such a lack of respect. If anything, we should be trying to understand each other more, seeing where the other comes from and as to why they are for or against the outcome of this election. This way we can open up ours eyes, looking at things from a different standpoint.

My ultimate message from this post is this; no matter what side you’re on from the outcome of this years election,” Love Trumps Hate.” And now to quote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., “The ultimate measure of a man/woman is not where he/she stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he/she stands at times of challenge and controversy.” -Martin Luther King Jr.

And to the people that really wrote in “Harambe” on their election ballots, you not only wasted paper & trees, but “congratulations, you played yourself”.