I refuse to treat people based on how they are born. Class, gender, race, socioeconomic status, culture, disability, sexuality, immigration status, you name it. People are individuals, and should not be treated based on a stereotype. I prefer to treat people based on how they behave and treat others, but even that is not always black and white. My mom has always said that people are not all good or all bad, and in this incredibly divided and emotional political climate, that is much easier to say than do. With the loss of a high school classmate from pneumonia this past week, I have been struggling with just that.

I couldn't hate Josh because he was a Trump supporter. It's not that simple. In my hometown, being incredibly conservative is common, and my political ideologies were in the minority and often ridiculed. But not by Josh. I try not to be Trumpist (assume that all Trump supporters are assholes), even as I attend one of the most liberal colleges in the country. It's hard to listen to people of different ideologies, especially in this political climate, as the Trump Administration threatens people's livelihood and even lives. Politics are so tied up in our values, and I think that's why people get so offended when others have different politics. It's a threat to the very core of who we are. That's why Facebook fights over politics never change anyone's opinion. When it comes to our values, we're all pretty tone deaf to other people's if they don't match our own. In all of the time that I had known Josh, I didn't put it together that he was conservative until just a couple of years ago. Josh was a big fan of Trump and liked the Confederate flag, which I found extremely offensive and he, like some of our other classmates, just didn't understand.

Josh entered my life and classroom in third grade, after moving from private to public school. We immediately began to interact. Josh was always respectful, even if our political ideologies differed as widely as possible. He would respectfully tell me why he thought what he did. It was never done in a patronizing way, or to even get me to think what he did, but just to explain his point of view. He specifically did this with the proposal of Trump's border wall during the primaries and his thoughts on fracking. The last time I saw him, a few weeks ago before we both left to go back to school after winter break, he was at a restaurant in town with his family, and I came over to say hi before leaving. Josh and his family were incredibly friendly. We reminisced about our times in high school. Josh brought up that we didn't really agree on certain issues, especially in our participation in government high school class, but he said to his parents that of the small number of liberals at our high school, I was "one of the good ones," even if we didn't always agree. He told me how excited he was for Trump's inauguration later that week. I told him I was heading to DC for the weekend to visit my grandmother, but chose not to disclose the fact that I would also be in DC for the Women's March. He was one of the only people I saw while home on break.

We had a lot of good times together over the years. All the times he stole my pencil case, turned it inside out, and then put all of my utensils back inside. The times he took my chair and hid it. The time he tied his muddy work boots on my desk in history class while I was sitting there. The time he invited me to have lunch and play games with him during one of his school counselor visits in fifth grade, because he knew I went to her too. He would often Snapchat me out of the blue just to say hi. We walked home from school together several times a week in middle school. How he encouraged me to go through lifeguarding training ("you'll pass, don't worry! A girl even smaller than you in my class did!"), writing in my yearbook at the end of last year that he looked forward to working with me at the pool. I only saw him there once. I remember Josh goofing off with me and another friend during drivers' ed, but always being able to answer questions posed by our instructor. Our drivers ed instructor was always annoyed at Josh's incessant jokes and talking, but towards the middle of the course came up to Josh, shook his hand, laughed and said, "I love you man. You're a funny one." We were all perplexed, but that was just how Josh was for people.

Josh was like an annoying brother. We got on each other's nerves a lot, but at the end of the day there was a mutual respect and a whole lot of laughter. He was always the tall, lanky kid goofing off in class, making everyone else laugh. Growing up in such a small, conservative town often had me avoiding conflict with people by steering clear of them as much as possible, but Josh wouldn't allow that to happen with him. Thank you for teaching me that people are so much more than their political views. Rest easily, Josh. You are so missed.