One day in my Political Science class last semester my professor asked us to think of our first political memory. I thought back to being in elementary school in 2008 when Mitt Romney and Barack Obama were running for President. In my 5th grade class we talked about the candidates, and colored in a map of the electoral college from the previous election. Even though I was barely 10 years old at the time, I remember asking my parents after school who they were planning on voting for. My parents are pretty moderate voters, socially liberal, but fiscally conservative people. I wanted them to vote for Obama, but their minds were already made up to vote for Romney. I told them how having a non-white president would reflect positively on our country and what message that could potentially send to other countries internationally. Ten years old and I already wanted to vote.

As I grew up and continued to go through school, my political knowledge expanded, but my morals never changed. Growing up in Seattle could turn anyone liberal. It’s arguably one of the most democratic states in the country; I am a product of my city, a young person probably a little too passionate about animal, environmental, and human rights. That’s why my parents were surprised when I started looking into schools in the south. I had never spent much time there, but the idea of going to a school where I would feel a little culture shock excited me, and thus I set my heart on Ole Miss. People warned me and poked fun of the idea that I was going to college in what they felt was a random state, but I’ve always been good and not taking others opinions to heart.

Fast forward to August 2016 when I left for school. My world was completely turned upside-down. The South is full of conservative, Trump-loving citizens. The election of 2016 was easily one of the most controversial in history. A lot of people had very strong political opinions before the vote. In the months leading up to the election, I witnessed many in-class arguments and debates about the two candidates running. Election night came and went, and while most of Ole Miss’s students went to the bars and celebrated, I pouted in my dorm rooming all night. (Side-note, if you ever want to start an argument at a dinner party, starting talking about politics.)

Most people feel very strongly in what they believe, and they should have the right to defend there position on certain topics. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, whether you agree with it or not. However frustrating that might be, unfortunately it’s true. I can’t ever put into words how many times I’ve heard negative comments, or been called names in class when speaking aloud about my beliefs. Don’t act like the entitled frat boy in my Pol 103 class that throughout the semester called me a ‘baby-murderer’, ‘liberal hippie’, and then proceeded to tell me I live in a bubble and needed to come back to the real world. Be respectful of others’ opinions, and never forget the golden rule: ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’.