To me, it still doesn’t seem real. I voted and walked away immediately feeling dirty, as though I had picked my side, and could never come back from it. I did not regret voting, or who I voted for, but I felt an overwhelming and surprising surge of shame the moment I logged onto the web. There wasn’t a place I could go that wasn’t tainted by the election. Facebook was full of last minute pleas to “do the right thing” and angry rants as to who would “doom us all”. Instagram pictures were captioned with heartfelt essays as to how this election would affect their lives. Snapchat stories were nonstop negative campaign ads that got more malicious the later it got.
And then, the results came in.
I didn’t stay awake to find out America’s future. I didn’t wake up and immediately search for results. I simply went about my routine, opened up Twitter and was instantly overwhelmed by hate.
I mean… people. Please. PEOPLE. Seriously?!
I want to take this break to clarify something; I dislike Donald Trump. I do. I don’t hate him, though, because I don’t know him. I’ve never met him, so how can I say I hate him? He is a racist, a sexist, xenophobic, homophobic man. He has made that clear over the course of this election, but I don’t hate him; I pity him.
And I pity those who let their fear drive their actions and influence their words. Instead of coming together and offering kind words of encouragement and building each other up, people began to cast blame and tear each other apart.
We had sucky candidates. We knew we would have a sucky president. But do we have to be sucky people?
So, here is my call to action. “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything.”
This includes lamenting about the results, saying you’re “disappointed” in people, stereotyping the voters; really anything negative shouldn’t escape your thoughts. Be kind to people, do something nice daily, post uplifting comments, and upload some pictures of puppies. If it’s positive, it’s post worthy.
I won’t tell you not to have opinions, not to use your rights, and to just shut up and take it. I won’t tell you not to feel fear. I will tell you not to let fear and anger be your motivation. Be a positive person, and you will see positive change.