As another scandal struck campus last week and a prominent event hit the news, I sat back and angrily grumbled to myself about the injustice of the matter, wishing more than anything that the world did not have to be this way. I used to be the girl that would passionately stand up for issues with educated facts to support my cause, and work to do whatever was in my power to share my thoughts with friends and different social media platforms to advocate for the issue. This strong, fearless voice that once was always heard has been muted, by the fact that people no longer can agree to disagree, and instead move to calling people ignorant in a context where they are not, and degrading names. I am sick of this behavior from society and I will not stand for it anymore.

I have sat back and watched people not know how to argue or disagree with people and result to just downright calling people names instead of broadening their perspectives and at least trying to understand where the other person is coming from. This is such a huge problem in America that has ultimately hurt our society as a whole and is internally tearing us apart.

I myself am a very deep thinker and am typically one to stick by my stance, but I still always try to see where the other side is coming from. Let me start off by saying that I am not here to tell you what to say, or tell you your opinion is wrong or irrelevant. In fact, I am here to do just the opposite.

I want to hear your voice about how you feel about an issue. I want you to not feel like your voice has to be oppressed for being scared of getting ridiculed or degraded. I want all sides to be able to have a civil, intellectual debate -- getting down to the core issues at stake. No one should have to feel scared to voice their opinion in a country where we have laws in place like the First Amendment, which allow us to have freedom of speech. It is your right and duty as an American to form your own opinions no matter what spectrum of the scale they fall on, whether they are considered far too conservative and "selfish" to some or far too liberal and considered "unrealistic" by others. Our country needs a balance of both sides of the spectrum to operate at a level that can please all, so if you are feel like you get ridiculed every time you try to express your opinion, that's a major problem.

I challenge you over the course of this next week to engage yourself in a post on Facebook, or a discussion with friends at lunch who have different opinions than you. Let them have their own opinion and let yourself have your own opinion too. Work to attempt to understand where the opposing opinion may be coming from without discrediting the person, and work on how to persuade and advocate for your issue to try to get the opposing opinion to understand where you are coming from. There will never be a perfect world where everyone agrees on everything, but we can at least try to show respect to others when disagreeing with them. Now more than ever it is important to have an opinion and let your voice be heard, so don't be scared.