This Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 marked my first experience voting in a presidential election, or any government-run election at that. While the two presidential candidates of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were not the most desirable two options for a first-time voter, I still felt privileged and excited that I was able to exercise my newly-granted right to vote and hopefully make a positive difference in the country I love. Although both candidates have their (rather poignant) flaws, and although this year's election was extremely heated, two-sided, and anxiety-provoking, I like to always take away the positive from a situation. Here are some happy and valuable lessons I took away from my first voting experience:
First, I learned that politics aren't quite as boring as I thought. I know, I sound ignorant, but throughout my early life I never really cared to educate myself about politics. Because I wasn't personally involved in any type of election, I didn't think it was worthwhile to subject myself to the complicated nature of politics that would probably hurt my brain. When preparing to vote, however, I was forced to stretch my mind and look into the policies and political ideals of the different presidential candidates - and I'm so glad I did. If you think about it, politics play a role in almost every part of our daily lives, big or small, and it definitely behooves us to educate ourselves about what's going on in the world. Now that I have really immersed myself and have a lot more political knowledge under my belt, I feel prepared to put this education to work to help this beautiful country flourish.
Secondly, the outcome of this election has allowed me to realize that now, more than ever, I really want to help people. I have always known that I wanted a career in human services or psychology, but the outcome of this election has inspired me more than ever to take action and make stuff happen to put the smiles back on people's faces. While I do respect him, Donald Trump is definitely not my favorite guy in the world - certain hateful things he and his vice president, Mike Pence, have brought up regarding Planned Parenthood and Conversion Therapy, among other hateful practices, should be shocking to everyone regardless of whether you supported Hillary, Trump, or anyone else throughout the election. Witnessing history unfold right before my eyes is pretty awe-inspiring and motivates me to extend a helping hand to those groups who are being targeted by a Trump presidency. I will not let Trump's hate take the love and light out of me, rather I will allow it to inspire me.
Lastly, being a first-time voter has taught me that even though I am young, I have massive potential to make an influence. While the older generations might consider the millennial generation naive and "over-sensitive", it has been proven to me over the past week that this generation packs a huge punch. The other day, I came across an extremely eye-opening graphic online that showed how the election results would have differed had only Americans ages 18-25 voted. Hillary Clinton dominated this hypothetical map by a landslide, which goes to show just how extensive generational differences in political mindset are. While the older generations typically seem to favor tradition, my generation has shown a significantly heavier emphasis on the power of progress and acceptance - just consider the amount of peaceful protests that have occurred since Trump was announced presidential elect. We don't hold back, nor do we stop until we have justice. As scary as it may sound to someone of an older generation, soon the day will come when a "millennial" will take the reigns and rule this country, and I have so much faith that whoever that is will use the power of positivity and acceptance to kick ass.
