I have now lived three days in a world where Donald Trump has been elected president of the United States of America. To be honest, that’s three more days than I was hoping to have to see. The three days I have seen are about what I imagined they would be. They’ve been full of sadness and hatred, from both sides. As you can probably tell from what you’ve read so far, I am not a Trump supporter. That being said, I did not consider myself a Hillary supporter either. Did I vote for her? Yes. Would I love to see the highest office in the land occupied by a woman? Hell yes. Despite these two facts, I never would have called myself a Hillary supporter. What I am in support of is this: peace, education, the environment, tolerance, equality, and love. Does that make me sound like a “liberal pansy” according to some of my Facebook friends? Yes, it does. Do I care? Not even a little.

I don’t have many children in my life at the moment, but someday that might change. I sometimes think about the world that I would like my future children to grow up in. I want my children to grow up in a world where everyone can be equals. Not only politically, but socially and in the minds of everyone. I want rape culture to be demolished. I want to cheerfully attend the weddings of all my gay and lesbian friends, and I want my black friends to stop being fearful for their lives every time they get pulled over. I want everyone to be able to worship the God of their choice without fear of retribution. I want my kids to go to college without being handed a massive student loan bill along with their diploma. I want to preserve the world and the environment for the next generation. Basically, I’d love for my future children to grow up in a world better than the one I inherited from the generation before me.

The problem with a Donald Trump presidency isn’t Donald Trump being president. The problem is how he got there. Donald Trump ran a campaign full of hate, misogyny, and divisive ideologies. Regardless of your political beliefs, you cannot deny this. The comments he made about Hispanics, women, Muslims, and many others are unforgivable, in my opinion. A Donald Trump victory just goes to show that while not all supporters might agree with these statements, a vast majority are able to overlook them and accept them as part of the “Trump Train” package deal.

At this point, the election is over, the protests are obsolete, and our next president has been chosen. This fact has left many people --myself included—wondering what comes next. What comes next is simple. I will continue to live my life according to the ideologies I believe to be right. I will stand in solidarity with my fellow women, my friends in the LGBTQ community, along with my friends who are people of color. We will stand up and fight for causes we believe in. All of us who are shocked and disappointed in a Trump victory will stand together and not let the negative and regressive ideas that were preached throughout this campaign to divide the country, and this means reaching across party lines.

Hurling insults at Trump and his supporters does nothing to bring us together, but only creates hate and violence. How can we preach tolerance and equality if we are not willing to show it ourselves? Like I said before, this is not the outcome I had hoped for and imagined, but we are a democracy for a reason. The people have spoken, and while I am disappointed with what they had to say, we now have the next four years to make it as positive as possible. Stand up for a good cause, fight for the environment, do good, and be kind to one another. These are all things that we can do, regardless of who is sitting in the Oval Office, and these are all things that I intend to do.

So I suppose I’ll just end with a final sentiment -- Donald Trump, I hope your campaign was merely a path to get to where you are now rather than ideas you actually hold to be true. I wish you all the luck in the world, and I hope and pray that you will turn out to be the great president that our great nation deserves.