When all seems right, it's really not.
If I am being honest, I wasn't going to vote. I didn't feel right about it and it put a rotting feeling in the center of my stomach. I express I might have regretted it now if I didn't. My boyfriend was the one that convinced me on November 5th, last day to register, that I should. I had one hour left to get my behind into the line that went all the way around the building and into the polls. I was convinced that I would turn 22 by the time it finally got to my turn to register. But alas, I did my civic duty and I felt pretty good about it. Well, that was until November 8th.
No matter who you voted for, I am proud you did it in the first place. I know plenty of people who thought they had something better to do than to "vote." I think it is more than your duty; it is your right. We didn't fight for our rights just so people could sit around thinking nothing in this world matters more than the next episode on your Netflix subscription. No, it's more than that, it's our culture and it is something to pride yourself in doing.
Whether it was Trump or Hillary that you voted for, you had your reasons. Even if those reasons came from other peoples opinions on the internet, they were still opinions. Opinions is what is treading the streets right now and those opinions got the best of a lot of people. I have heard people call the "liberals" out there "babies with temper tantrums." Now isn't that nice? I don't condone people rioting to destroy, I like it when it rebuilds. These people you make fun of, they were hurt by something deeper than an election. They use a representation, a person, to fuel their anger and frustrations. Peaceful protests are our rights as Americans, so definitely don't put those down, they earned that, tantrum or not. But what isn't right is they way some go about wanting change. Change is a 100 year process. Change is centuries of fighting and folks, we just got started on a new revolution.
People had many reasons to be mad at the results this year. I for one thought my right as a woman was disappearing before my eyes. Maybe it will be okay and maybe it won't. Who really knows how these next four years are going to play out. That is what scares these protesters. They are scared inside, but not as angry as you think they are. What fuels anger? Fear. Plain fear of the future. They will never admit they are scared of the reality that the media has shaped for them. Maybe the media is right and the world is ending tomorrow or maybe we had played into the hands of people who are laughing at us right now. People are like clay, you can mold their minds to think like they do and their bodies to obey.
This is part one of a two part article. You can read part two here.