Young children of America,
Before you decide that my words are going to be a bunch of crap and go back to playing with your fidget spinners or whatever else you do these days, please listen up. I am not here to sway your opinions into any direction. I am not here to tell you that your beliefs about the state of this country are stupid; you have a right to your own opinion. Your opinion doesn’t directly affect me, so I have no right to claim that your thoughts are “wrong” and try to make you change your opinion. That being said, my opinion is also just my own opinion, so all I ask is for you to hear me out.
This past election was one of the weirdest and controversial that the country has ever had. This election was the first election that garnered a new president that you all were fully aware of. The last new president that was elected into office was in 2008, which was far before any of you could comprehend anything political. Even now, I assume that it is hard to fully understand the political agendas that our president has; my elementary school vocabulary when I was your age didn’t cover words like “tax-deductible” or “extremist.” I am sorry that this was the way that all your young souls were introduced to the American Government system. Instead of being shown how the executive branch of the government is like a protective father to all citizens of the United States, you have been shown images of people living in fear of what new piece of legislation is coming out of our nation’s capital.
If you fully understand what the repeal of the Affordable Care Act , the proposed wall between Mexico and the United States, and the numerous budget cuts are and how they could affect the United States in the long-run, and you still support these propositions and our president, that’s fine. On the other hand, if you cried on election night, are in fear of your classmates telling you to "go home where you came from” or some other mean comment, and despise what is going on in our country, that’s fine too. I understand that people can have differing opinions on really anything. Say you like chocolate ice-cream and I really despise it; I can’t just try to make you not like chocolate ice-cream anymore. I can tell you that I don’t like chocolate ice-cream all I want, but only an unfortunate experience that you have personally with chocolate ice-cream can change your opinion.
However, if the only reason you are sporting your “Make America Great Again” hats around recess is simply because you assume our president will “make America great again,” (with no real reason behind your opinion) or wear your anti- Trump T-shirts every chance you get because you feel like you must, I need you to do some thinking. I can tell you that one man can’t make America great again all on his own. It is impossible for America to be great for every citizen in a country with a population of almost 326 million . Every person, no matter their gender, race, sexual orientation, or political affiliation is going to be unhappy about something. Likewise, different things make different people happy. A perfectly “great” America would be what writers describe as a “utopia,” and that is impossible to achieve. While it is difficult for anyone, even one man and his cabinet, to make America “great” in a measly four years, you all can start attempting to make America “great” again in your own backyard.
To start making America “great” again, you can start loving people and their differences. Just because people may come from a different country than you, are a different gender than you, have a physical or mental disability, or have a different family life than you have doesn’t mean they aren’t still people and still deserve to be treated the same as you or anyone else. Embrace the differences that people have and learn from them. You will never know what you may learn by having a simple conversation with someone new and different if you shove them away and build walls around them. Treat everyone you meet with the kindness and respect that they deserve as humans on this earth.
To start making America “great” again, you can also give everyone, no matter who they are, a chance for greatness. You wouldn’t like it if someone told you that you couldn’t do things because of a trait of yours that you can’t change. For example, you would hate it if one of your teachers said that you are not smart enough to do fractions in math because you are a boy (or a girl). Your gender has nothing to do with your math abilities. Just like how you don’t want your own unchangeable traits to define you, don’t see your peers as only as what’s on the outside. Everyone can achieve great things. Some people may have to go about things in different fashions, or people can even surprise you and achieve the unthinkable. Everyone likes surprises, so let those people who you think won’t be able to do things at least try.
To start making America “great” again, don’t call people liars when they don’t agree with you or point out your flaws. As I said before, it is OK to be different, and it is OK to have different opinions than the others around you. American citizens are not a big line of carbon-copy robots, so there is nothing stating that we all have to conform to one set of beliefs. This means that you shouldn’t call people names because they don’t share your beliefs. Let’s go back to my example about the chocolate ice-cream from earlier. Calling someone a “poopy head,” some other playground insult, or other names that are too inappropriate for me to write in this letter to you just because they don’t share your same love or disdain for chocolate ice-cream doesn’t really fix anything. It honestly just makes things worse. The same thing goes for when people point out your flaws. When someone tells you that you were being mean to someone, your outfit looks hideous, or that you even just made a mistake in your homework, they are just trying to help you. Let them help you, and you will become a better person. Calling their comments “fake news” doesn’t really help your case.
Lastly, to start making America “great” again, don’t just rely on social media to fight your battles. If you can’t make the horrible comments about someone to their face, you shouldn’t be saying them. Hiding behind a screen and saying mean things about others is a cowardly way to fight your battles. Instead of building bridges by settling conflicts in person in a respectable fashion, you are burning twice as many by letting the whole world see how you are too scared to fight your battles on your own. It may be easier to tell Sally from homeroom that she “smells like a hot-dog” from behind a Twitter handle, but if letting her know that smells that way really is that helpful, tell her in person. If you can’t fathom telling her that straight to her face, it is not worth saying.
Soon enough, the America that is controlled by the adults is going to be the America that is officially controlled by you. If you truly want to make that America a great place to live when you are older, you have to start putting in the work now.
Sincerely,
A Concerned Adult
