When I woke up the morning after the election, I was flooded with concerned posts and even some personal messages. I, not wanting to stay up late, had slept through the results of the 2016 presidential election, so the first thing I woke up to was that Donald Trump was going to be the next President of the United States. Everyone was experiencing intense emotions, and I wasn't sure how to feel. Some of my friends were sincerely afraid, others were mad, but it seemed as though everyone was just shocked.

Honestly, I never cared much for politics. Politics tend to split people apart and force them into groups based on their differences from one another. But this election season, since I've seen some things that turn my stomach, I wanted to send a personal message to everyone out there.

Things are incredibly tense at the moment, there's no doubt about that. However tense our situation is, no one should be afraid. Fear is what turns us into hateful monsters. It's what controls and makes us to do terrible things. It isolates us even further. Yes, the election results were very close, yes you may hate the candidate that was chosen, or maybe you even voted for the candidate, but that doesn't mean we should just jump off the deep end. In times like these, we have to remember that we are all people. We all have fears, we all love, we all want the best, but most importantly we all want to be heard. Too often, we forget to hear each other and we forget that we have to try to understand others' opinions. We're tossed into these groups where we're told that we are right, we are good, and they (the other groups) are wrong, are bad, are lesser. When this happens, we forget to see each other just as we are: people.

So yes, the election has been crazy, but it's over now and the future has yet to come. The sun is still rising every morning and the earth is still turning. Right now, let's focus on each other. Let's focus on what unites us and what binds us to our neighbor. We are all children in the same world, going through the struggles of life. Let's focus on loving and trying to understand each other, even when we completely disagree with each other. Even when you can't understand them or even completely agree with what they do or say, other people still need to be loved and respected. We are all human and we are all vulnerable, remember that and live without fear.