In a few short days, my family and I will be leaving for a trip to Europe where we will explore Italy, Austria and the Czech Republic. Never in my life have I ever been so excited for a trip while simultaneously feeling somber. I'm going to miss my friends, my lacrosse workouts and my job. However, I'm more disappointed to be missing out on the day celebrating the birth of our nation. Though my excitement expressed earlier may contradict with that previous statement, let me do a little explaining.

The Fourth of July is significant holiday celebrating the creation of our nation. This day is defined by unity including processions of parades, family gatherings and parties. As much as I will miss this holiday, I'm much more concerned about the people. Recently, it seems as if social issues and politics have torn our nation apart. Police brutality, the 2016 presidential election and many more centrifugal forces have made it seem like our country is not as united as the name suggests. While no country is ever completely unified with every citizen believing in the same things, it feels as if the United States has reached a climax point in its divisive state. With that said, it's important to pinpoint what exactly is affecting our nation in order to stand united.

Politics seems to be the most dividing topic that our country is currently facing. Our most recent presidential election was very heated and worried many people about the state of their country. In my state, there has been another election for Congress in which each side desperately seeks to ensure that their candidate wins. During both of these elections, it seems as if American citizens have turned into rabid savages. No matter who may win in an election, all citizens must do their best to respect others no matter what political party they belong to. The only solution to solving this timely crisis is doing our best as a nation to focus on what we can improve together, not against each other.

Another topic that divides our country as of now is social issues. This is a very sensitive topic as it includes subjects of racism and sexism. Possible cases of police brutality have been seen as well as degradation of the LGBTQ community. Unfortunately, there is no easy way of solving these issues without returning to the topic of politics. However, it is more important that when trying to resolve these issues, we do our best to leave out politics and work together peacefully as a nation.

Throughout this article, I purposefully concealed what political ideals I stand with. The reason for that is because they do not matter the least bit when talking about the current state of our nation. The key to living up to the name our founding fathers gave us is much more simple than politics or social issues. To resolve internal conflicts, united we must stand. To lessen the relevance of politics, united we must stand. To better our nation, united we must stand.