"You're a democrat. You must be a young, poor, lazy, freeloader who wants to live off the government and just wants to be handed everything without having a job."

"Oh, so you're a republican? You must be a privileged rich, homophobic, xenophobic, sexiest, raciest white male."

This is what happens when we take on those labels. No matter which side you're on, you're hated. People make these wild assumptions prior to sometimes even shaking hands with us. Crazy, isn't it? How we, society, give labels and words so much power. Because the words "republican" or "democrat" were originally created simply to indicate which side we're on, but somewhere along the way, humanity seemed to have attached negative connotations to them. We turn ourselves against each other and reduce one another to nothing more than an eight or ten letter word.

We forget that before we are republicans or democrats, we are friends, students, sisters, brothers, advice givers, human beings.

We are a million different things besides a silly political party but once people find out which side you're on, suddenly none of that matters anymore. It becomes our entire identity and we forget that it is simply one microscopic part of our being. In the grand scheme of life, it doesn't even matter as much as we make it out to. Our political views don't define us. They don't give insight about our character. So why all the hate? Why do we give so much power to one word?

That's why I prefer not to identify with either political party. Yes, I voted in the last presidential election and I do have strong beliefs regarding issues of interest, but I don't feel the need to label myself. I'm not completely conservative nor liberal. My views happen to be scattered all over the map which include various shades of gray in areas where I'm still uncertain about, but that's alright because they don't define me.

I define me. My interests define me. My passions define me. Politics, on the other hand, do not.