In light of the presidential election coming to a close, I am left speechless. I don't have the proper words to express just how truly terrified I am for what the next four years will bring. On top of that, I am sadden at how hateful we as a nation have become.
We will soon be governed by a Republican lead House, Senate, Supreme Court, and President. That calls for serious change to happen, which can be a good thing. Unfortunately, with the current situation we're given I don't see this change being beneficial to a vast majority of the country's population.
I am scared for the Mexican and Muslim citizens and immigrants living in our melting pot of a country. They have endured so much prejudice and hate already during the campaigning, and now I fear their rights are in severe jeopardy.
I am scared for the LGBTQ+ community who finally won the right to be married, only to have a president appoint Supreme Court Justices who plan to overturn that law. I am at a loss for words that we are still fighting over people's basic human rights. Who someone marry's should be not a political agenda or a deal breaker to voters. It affects no one but the two people getting married. Whether it's a straight couple or gay couple or any mix in between, we all deserve the right to marry who we love because we are a nation based on the separation of church and state and a nation built on freedom.
I am scared for my Mother, myself, and the Jewish population in our country who is watching a leader who's entire political campaign was based on fear and hate. A leader who shares too many similarities to a someone who killed millions of people, many being relatives we would never get the chance to know. I am terrified that people choose to ignore this and say that we are projecting our fear on someone who won't turn out like that. Some of the few Holocaust survivors left are warning us about our leader because it gives them dangerous deja vu to their horrible past.
I'm not saying there will another mass genocide, I like to believe that we would be smart enough to see the warning signs of that if someone tried anything close to it. But it's the fact of the matter that someone's entire campaign was built on making the public blame and fear a minority of people, where the only solution was to round them up and send them back tot heir home country or put some sort of identifying clothing item on them so everyone would know.
I am scared for myself and the right to my body that is being fought over by people who will never have to go through what I may have to. No one's body should be controlled or ruled over by someone else, and there should not be laws dictating what someone does with their body or with their lives, because it's theirs and only theirs.
I'm scared for the little kids who look up to our president. The little girls who see him slandering the women who accused him of sexual assault and I'm haunted with the thought that they may think that that's normal. That if they were assaulted people won't believe them. I'm scared for the little boys who look up to the president who will think that even the president can get away with sexual assault.
I am scared for our future as a country because we are all so angry with each other and with the government. We need to put aside our difference and come together as a unified country. We need to respect everyone's opinion, even if you don't agree with them. We are a country built on religious freedom and we are the world's melting pot. We are the country that people feel safe moving to. We can't ruin that now, it's not who we are.
So I beg you, whoever that's reading this, spread love. Lift people up instead of tearing them down. Take what the media gives you with a grain of salt. Don't let people's opinions change yours, but also respect the fact that they have the right to not agree with you. We must fight equal rights for everyone, because those are the basic human rights that everyone deserves.
Stand up for your fellow neighbor and love unconditionally, we as a nation need love now more than ever.