Donald J. Trump has won the presidency. In the last six days, I have seen more hate in this country than I've seen in my whole life combined. Young, old, black, white, gay, and straight, people are scared. Even if you voted for Donald Trump you fear. Some of us fear President Trump will take away their right to marry the one they love. Some fear that they have lost friends for exercising their constitutional right to vote. Some fear that they will lose control over their reproductive rights. As for me, I fear the hate. On November 9th, 2016 I watched as my friends and family took pleasure in ripping each other to pieces over their political views. I confess I took part in expressing and standing up for my opinion on social media. I felt betrayed by my friends and family members that voted opposite of me. I felt ashamed to be part of a nation where the majority of electors supported the idea of taking away the rights of mass groups of people simply for being who they are. I felt completely hopeless.
But that Thursday, in my freshman seminar class, my perspective changed. We had four, count them four, essays due in our class on Thursday. I was depressed about the election, stressed about the essays, and ready to be done for the day. But, to my surprise, instead of having a normal class my professor decided we should use that time to sit in a circle and share our thoughts and feelings about what had happened. So we all moved our chairs into a circle and we talked. We talked for the entire hour and fifteen minutes. Everyone shared their opinion and their feelings about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, the electoral college, the nature of this election, and what we can do to be active citizens.
As theatre majors, you can probably figure out where the majority of us stood on the election. But no, it wasn't just a group of radical liberals chanting "NOT MY PRESIDENT." It was so much more than that. The beauty of being part of a theatre program is the diversity you get to experience and the perspectives that are brought to light for you. We had females that voted for Clinton, males that voted for Clinton, females that voted for Trump, males that voted for Trump, African Americans, Latinos, homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, third party advocates, and those that didn't vote. We had representation from almost every major group in this election. Those that supported Hillary Clinton explained their reasoning and every single person could find one way that they agreed with those who voted opposite of them. We found grounds that we could agree and support each other on.
But perhaps the most influential thing said in that circle came from one of the people that voted for Donald Trump. This young man said that he sat down with a friend for over two hours while they weighed the pros and cons of both candidates. They looked at the social, political, and economic stances of both candidates. One friend chose to vote for Donald Trump and one voted for Hillary Clinton. He said, "This was not something I took lightly." This totally changed my perception. We were not democrats or republicans. We were not conservatives or liberals. We were people. We were friends turning to one another for comfort.
I don't agree with the confederate flag. I don't agree with those who are anti-LGBT. I believe women should be given a choice and control over there bodies. I believe we should take in Syrian refugees. I believe there should be stricter gun regulations. I believe rapists should be imprisoned for life. But most of all, I believe in love. I believe in the goodness of others. I believe that not all Muslims are terrorist because I believe there is good and bad in EVERYONE. I believe that no one is all good or all bad. There is hope in the goodness of others.
Donald Trump did not cause the fear we are feeling right now. Hate did. Hate dwells in all of us. Hate thrives on lack of understanding. Hate feeds on ignorance. Hate uses anger like fire uses oxygen. It breathes in what is vulnerable by nature and creates something destructive. So let us strive to find water. Let us work to understand rather than to criticize. You may not agree with Donald Trump, you may despise Donald Trump. But rather than refusing to accept him as your president, use your anger and your fear to understand what has happened.
If you want to change this world you cannot start by hating. Changing the world for the better starts by ridding the world of hate. We millennials have the opportunity and the capability to change the world. This is our time. We've already started. We had the biggest turn out of any young voter generation in history. But if we want to make this world better we have to stop letting fear make us hate. Learn from what has happened, strive to understand those who are different from you, never underestimate the power of your own fear and NEVER underestimate the power you have to love.
