I love America. I love the people, the lifestyle, the opportunities and the general happiness it has brought me since moving here from England in 2011. But yesterday, I was flooded with disappointment. I sat by the television for hours as the votes rolled in, with bright red lighting up numerous areas of the map. Dread engulfed me as I realized what the likely outcome was about to be.
I felt compelled to write this article today, the day that everyone around the world is using to comprehend what just happened, in order to express my feelings about this election. It terrifies me to know that for the next four years, this beautiful, strong and powerful country will be led by this man. To know that such great numbers of citizens used their right to vote in order to elect a racist, sexist, and evil individual is bewildering.
This man was a joke candidate. People laughed at his words and his policies and didn't see him ever reaching this point. However, I woke up this morning to texts asking if I was going back to England because of this now, hearing of my friends sobbing because of the result and witnessing the utter hopelessness on my college campus.
Today should have been a day of celebration.
Today, Hillary Clinton should have been the first female president.
Today, little girls and women across the nation should have been beaming, knowing that they can do anything and become anything they want.
But instead, we are a part of the United Divided States. A place where it's okay for a president to have no political experience. Where it's okay to use the hashtag 'repealthe19th.' Where it's okay for the man who is supposed to lead this country to use the words "grab her by the pussy," and use the pathetic excuse of saying that it's locker room talk. Because apparently "locker room talk" involves demeaning women.
Scattered across the internet today are reactions to this election. Whether it's women desperate to get birth control before it is no longer an option, gay couples feeling defeated as their rights could now be in question or immigrants losing all hope. Donald Trump is not worth the turmoil, the distress and the misery that election day brought.
As a friend on Facebook stated last night, we were 10 steps forward yesterday and 50 years backward today.
I was undecided as to if I wished I could vote or not on Election Day. I was desperate to be a part of this historic event and have a say in the future of the country that I now call my home. It is truly a hope in my heart that during the next presidential election, where I will hopefully have citizenship and a voice, that I will get to vote for an exponentially better leader.
Throughout the next four years, I will cherish what I have. My friends, family and the belief that this country will move past this once he is out of office. All of which are better than the decision that was made yesterday and the decisions he will make in the four years to come.
