A few months ago, before the primaries and before we were down to two Presidential candidates and before America was facing Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as her option for President, I wrote about how the 2016 election was a joke. Back then, Ted Cruz was being touted on Tumblr as the Zodiac Killer, Bernie Sanders was a "cool socialist grandpa," Hillary Clinton was "just chilling, in Cedar Rapids," and Donald Trump was still a "talking cheeto." Despite all this, America was convinced that we would still have fairly decent Presidential candidates, so we kept making jokes because surely everything would turn out ok, right?

Everything has not turned out ok.

The time for jokes is over.

Look, I agree with everyone else that this election season is ridiculous. I agree that the debates are no more than Trump and Clinton throwing shady insults and dramatic claims at each other while ignoring the questions they are posed and failing to show America how they intend to improve her. Yes, Donald Trump supporters can be ridiculous. Yes, Clinton can be cringe-worthy with her memes and pop-culture reference attempts. And yes, it is humorous to apply Snapchat filters to the two during the debate.

But we have to stop treating this election like a joke and see it like it is.

At the end of the day, in November, one of two things will happen, either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will become president. There are third-party candidates, such as Libertarian Gary Johnson, but with America's two-party system, the chances of a third-party candidate are slim or nearly impossible (if your ethics or morals are telling you to vote third-party, however, by all means do it).

Either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump is going to be our next President, and we have to recognize that fact instead of hiding behind a layer of memes and Snapchat filters. We have to face the music and own up to what our country has decided. Trust me, I know it's scary and I know you may be disgusted with our options. Maybe joking about this election is how the populace is hiding their fear of what's to come, but we can let our fear and refusal to face the facts continue to dominate how we view our candidates. You may not like either candidate (odds are highly likely that you don't); you may be disgusted that these two are our options, but they are. So please, treat Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton like the people they are, the two options for the next leader of our country for the next four years. And treat this election like it is, a decision that will change the face of America. And for the love of all these holy, please register to vote.