This last week has been an emotional ride for half of the United Sates everywhere. From praising the outcome of the election to disbelief and tears. Social media has been blowing up and quite frankly, it makes me want to run into a black hole and hide from everyone in it.

I will be honest, I was shocked with the outcome, but I was going to be shocked either way the election had ended. This was my very first year to vote and I knew going into this election, history would be made; either from a woman being in the white house, businessman with no experience, or a third party candidate, I knew that there was going to be big changes to come.

With all the blow up on social media, it makes me think about everything. I try to look at both sides to the story; why people are reacting in certain ways. In all honesty, I don’t care about the outcome. I knew what was going to happen and I knew that outrage would flourish no matter who lost.

But, as a country, we need to unite. We need to stop the bickering, the yelling, and the hate. We need to stop the mocking and the crying. We need to stop being babies and start acting like the adults that we claim we are. We cannot change the outcome. We cannot elect a new president and we cannot let this tear our country apart.

Other countries are looking at us in amusement. They are watching the out-lash and the way we are reacting as if we were immature teenagers fussing over not getting their way. They are watching the hate that is spreading across the United States. Trump didn’t start this hate. The citizens that have the need to get their way started this.

We cannot change what happened. I am sorry to say this, but no amounts of hateful Facebook comments or tweets will change the vote. We are stuck with this outcome. We elected Trump to represent our country and now we must respect this decision for the next at least four years. We need to put our best foot forward. We need to let the future take its trail and follow it no matter what happens.

We need to put our opinions aside from one and another and become caring human beings again. We need to become the empathetic people we were before the election. We need to stop yelling, stop hating and threatening those with different opinions than us. We need to remember that we have a right to our freedom of speech, but we also need to remember that words and actions hurt. How would you feel if you were name-called, threatened with your life, or hazed?

This is not who we are. This is not who America is. We are built on a diverse system. We are built on love and passion. We are built on the values for a better life and a better future. When did this change? When did we become so hurtful? So mean? So… apathetic? This is not the America that I am proud to be a citizen of. This is not the America I am happy to brag about.

I want the fighting to stop. I want the rioting to stop. I want to be able to go back on social media and not see hateful and hurtful comments. I want to be able to say that I am proud to be from the United States, but right now, I can’t say that. I can’t say that with all the actions and words spreading. I want to be proud, but right now… I’m not. They say that “Love trumps hate,” but right now, all there is right now is hate. I want the love of my country back.