I don’t want to get into politics in this article. I don’t want to, but I am going to, conscientiously, and as non-controversially as possible. Seeing Donald Trump walk onto the stage and perform his first speech as president elect was surreal. I wholeheartedly believed that after thanking his supporters he would say, “Thank you, but, America, you’ve just been punked.” Yeah…Needless to say, that did not happen. This struck me as both alarming, and terrifying. I will thus be sporting a silver safety pin, and will continue to surround myself with compassionate, strong and accepting individuals together with whom I can work to spread the love.

I implore you, if you relate to my discomfort, and fear induced by the outcome of this election, to come together. Be there for one another, because, as I have said many times before, strength is in unity. Remember Aesop’s Fable's bundle of sticks. This isn’t a time to hate, or to resent those with other political opinions, but rather to come together forming a network of individuals fueled by love for one another, and belief in the values of liberty, acceptance, and diversity that this country represents, and will, with our collective love and strength, continue to represent.

We mustn’t look at this as the end of equality, the end of feminism, the end of gay rights, etc., but rather as the rise of unity. There is now a common cause for most everyone to unite under; that of love. I implore you to look below to Gandhi, to Martin Luther King Jr., to Nelson Mandela, to Desmond Tutu, and be inspired by their love, their compassion, their sense of peace, and their passion for finding justice through the peaceful unification of individuals under those values.

Mahatma Gandhi expressed the power that lies in acting with love rather than with fear, saying, "Power is of two kinds. One is obtained by the fear of punishment and the other by acts of love. Power based on love is a thousand times more effective and permanent then the one derived from fear of punishment.” We can be afraid, and we can feel that fear, but we must not allow it to govern our actions. We must draw on the love we have for one another, and on the values of equality that we believe in to govern our actions. Only then can a difference actually be made. For, as Gandhi also said, “an eye for an eye only leaves the whole world blind.” Letting hate and fear control us now will only result in senseless chaos, and prevent progress and solutions from taking form. We want to open the eyes of those blinded by fear, not further blind them.

Martin Luther King Jr. supports this assertion, saying, ”I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.” Now, a lot has changed, and developed since the time of Martin Luther King Jr., but, today, as we fear that we may be reverting back to the racism, and hatred that was so obviously prevalent then, we ought to be reminded of the power of love, peace, and brotherhood that King so powerfully preached. We cannot allow this country to regress back into the widely divided, racist, and misogynistic ways of the past. But, we must bear in mind that only “unarmed truth and love” will have the power to prevent that regression, and incite progression.

And, as we come together in an effort to push our society forward, away from hate, towards unconditional love, we must be reminded that, as Nelson Mandela so clearly and elegantly put it, “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” To hate another is not innate. And, though it may be powerfully backed by the fear and insecurity of so many American citizens today, hate can be overpowered by love. Love after all does “come more naturally to the human heart.”

I will now end on the words of Desmond Tutu, who said, “Out of the cacophony of random suffering and chaos that can mark human life, the life artist sees or creates a symphony of meaning and order.” Everything happens for a reason, or, rather, there is “a symphony of meaning and order” to everything that takes place, we just have to find that meaning. The election of Donald Trump had to have happened, however hard that may be to admit. Believe me, that was painful merely to type. But, out of the suffering and chaos that has ensued will come meaning, and progress. Yes, I believe that acting with the love of Gandhi, the brotherhood of King, the tutelage of Mandela, and the faith of Tutu, together we can bring this country forward, united under love.