Dear Mr. Trump,

You frighten me.

I don’t know if you’ve ever been genuinely afraid, Mr. Trump. I don’t know if you understand what it’s like to be afraid that someone will take away your voice, your worth, your status as a human, your faith or even your country. But you make me scared of all those.

To begin with, you frighten me because I am a woman.

Many of your comments about women have, quite frankly, been disgusting. I don’t care who would “look good on her knees” or that you are immature enough to say that a woman has “blood coming out of her wherever.” Please don’t insult a woman because her intellect and courage intimidate you or because she says something you don’t want to talk about. Women are valuable, intelligent, human citizens of this country, so if you’re planning on becoming president, I would suggest learning how to treat women as more than animals.

Secondly, you frighten me because I passed my middle school history class.

Let me tell you a story: Once upon a time, there was a man named Fred. He wanted to “make Canada great.” One of the things he needed to do in order to make sure that Canadian society ran smoothly without any fear of interruption was to make sure that no one would interfere with Fred’s perfect system of government. Well, you see Mr. Trump, this man was afraid that the Christians would cause trouble. Don’t misunderstand me. They weren’t causing trouble. But, in the event that they might, Fred decided to get rid of all the Christians. So he had them shipped off. Put somewhere "out of the way," essentially eliminating any potential threat. Unfortunately, Fred’s great plan backfired on him. The rest of the world saw him treat those Canadian Christians with injustice and the world fought back.

Mr. Trump, I don’t know if that story is sounding familiar yet. But that man’s name wasn’t actually Fred, and he wasn’t Canadian. His name was Adolf Hitler. And he wanted to make Germany great. But he did try to remove an entire religious group from the country… and from general existence. The world saw the cruelty and injustice, and it turned into World War 2. And, as much as I realize this is an extremecomparison, I can’t help but see an eerie similarity to your passionate speeches about getting rid of all the Muslims or deporting all the Mexicans. Sir, I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but do you realize how similar your plan is to the beginning of the Holocaust or the Japanese Internment? I’m not suggesting that you’re planning on killing all the Muslims, but sometimes I wonder if you’ve confused “bombing the shit” out of ISIS with taking out your fear and anger on the innocent Muslims who are loyal citizens of the United States.

Third, you frighten me because I’m an American.

Mr. Trump, I love my country. I believe in her resiliency, innovation and patriotism. Yet you make me genuinely terrified for the future. When I hear you talk about your plans for our country, the words of Captain America come to my mind: “This isn’t freedom; this is fear.” Mr. Trump, thus far you are not fostering greatness; you are promoting hatred. Just look at the widespread violence surrounding your rallies. No other candidate is having such an issue with violent supporters.

As far as policy goes, the world has enough hatred in it without the United States being run by laws of misogyny, racism, and xenophobia. Please, Mr. Trump. I beg you. America is made of people. Real, live humans. Please see us as such. We are not pawns, sex objects, animals or toys. America is made up of millions of individual people with their own hopes and dreams. Yes, some of us are white, black, Mexican, Arabic, Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, atheist, male, female, trans, bi, gay, lesbian, thin, fat, tall, short, haters, lovers, believers, doubters. You name it, America has it. THAT is what makes America great. Our freedom to be diverse.

You cannot make America great as if greatness were a gene you could force into the DNA of this country. You are only one man. The greatness of America is in its people, in the unspeakable beauty of diversity. Yes, we make a lot of mistakes, but we have the freedom to learn from our mistakes and try again. The idea of re-elevating America to a status of global superiority is impossible for you to accomplish on your own. Yet, if that is truly your goal, why do you alienate yourself from so many Americans with your words of hatred and belligerent dismissal of their intrinsic worth? In order to “make America great” you’re going to need all the citizens of America working together. There’s a reason the phrase “e pluribus unum” (out of many, one) is on the Seal of the United States. That unity must necessarily precede any greatness of our country.

Last of all, Mr. Trump, your hatred frightens me.

You claim to want to make America great while simultaneously forgetting what America is. America is my country. It’s the land of the free and the home of the brave. It’s my land. It’s my home. It’s your land. It’s your home. I truly believe that you are passionate about this country, and this is all I have to say: I believe that you love America even though I have never personally seen you reach out to anyone of its citizens in love. I desperately hope that you are not as selfish, racist, sexist or xenophobic as you appear in the media. But even if you are exactly who and what you appear to be, even if all of my fears are completely founded, nothing you say or do will ever terrify me enough to stop loving my country or the people around me. No matter what you do to the Mexicans and Muslims in this country, you cannot stop me from loving them. Yes, your hatred terrifies me, because hatred tears apart. It never repairs the broken. It never heals the hurting. And it never brings greatness to the ordinary.

As much as you frighten me, Mr. Trump, I refuse to hate you. I will not demean you simply because I disagree with you. Only bullies and cowards do that. But I will speak out when I see hatred and injustice, and I will not be cowed into silence or intimidated into bitterness. Just because I’m scared doesn’t mean I’m not also courageous.

God Bless America.