If you know me on a personal level, then the title of this article probably shocked you. Most everyone I know is very aware of the fact that, politically speaking, I refuse to support Donald Trump and his presidential campaign. Actually, some people may even goes as far as saying, based off of my heightened support for one of his opposing candidates Bernie Sanders, that I hate him. This claim is only about 50% accurate, however. After watching every republican debate and thoroughly educating myself on Trump’s policies and social views, I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I am not, nor will I ever be, a supporter or Mr. Donald Trump.

But do I hate him? Absolutely not.

You see, it is so incredibly easy to get caught up in the viciousness of an election season and chances are there is a candidate that REALLY makes your blood boil. But it’s also around this time of year that so many people begin to lose sight of their humanity and begin to turn on one another. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but the act of choosing a leader to run this country as well as represent every single American citizen should not be the root cause of so much hatred.

Earlier this week I was sitting at dinner with my mom, my brother, and one of my mom’s friends from high school when the all-too-familiar subject of presidential candidacy arose. Now, if your family is anything at all like mine then you know how exhausting this kind of thing can be. Politics is a very frequently visited topic at the Ferin family dinner table. My family and I generally agree when it comes to political views so it isn’t that the conversation irritates me due to clashing opinions, the aggravation comes from the words they use when talking about opposing candidates. As I sat there listening to the three of them voice their distaste for Donald Trump and his campaign by using words like “psychopath”, “disgusting”, and “heartless egomaniac” I became increasingly upset. I mean, this is a human being they were talking about! A real, living and breathing human being just like all of us! Sure, I’m definitely not Mr. Trump’s #1 fan but this doesn’t mean that I am automatically granted the right to slander his name and call him the “Antichrist.”

Even though we see these candidates placed on pedestals for months on end via television, newspapers, magazines, online publications etc., we often forget that these are real people just like you and me. After all of the debates and rallies are over and the screaming fans have all departed leaving the arenas empty, each and every one of them takes off their suits (or pantsuit, if you are Hillary Clinton), brushes their teeth, and crawls into bed just like any other person. They all have favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite songs. They were all teenagers at one point, unsure of who they were and what the future held for them. They cry. Yes, it is true. Trump may uphold quite the bulletproof exterior while he screams to the crowd of rambunctious supporters but there was once a time when even he fell off of his bike and let a few tears fall from his eyes. Hillary Clinton was once a 14 year old girl with an irrational crush on some handsome, ultra-famous superstar. Bernie Sanders probably enjoys a good Spice Girls song. Sure, these people hold opposing viewpoints when it comes to politics and I probably wouldn’t want to be locked in a room with the three of them at the same time, but despite their obvious differences they all share one really big thing in common: they are human.

Now do you see it? How we dehumanize these people based off of how they want to improve this nation as they see it? Every candidate that has tried their hand in this warzone of a presidential race thinks that they hold the key to a better future for every single one of us. Even if I do not personally think that Donald Trump is the kind of president that this country needs nor do I think we could benefit from him in office at all, I know that his intentions are not to tear us down; the same idea applies to both Hillary and Bernie as well. Nobody runs for president with the sole intention of destroying America. It just doesn’t happen. It is true that some candidates have political views that could potentially harm us more than others, but that doesn’t change the fact that in their mind they are exactly what this country “needs.” If we could all adjust to the fact that each candidate is only trying to better this country in a way that they believe to be effective, I truly don’t think we would be speaking so cruelly about them.

The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter who you support or what you believe in, we are all human beings. You don’t have to respect another person’s opinions if they are harmful to others, just as I do not respect Trump’s racist and misogynistic behavior, but the cure for ignorance is never going to be more ignorance. Hate is such an intense, brash word and since I’m going to assume that none of us actually know Donald Trump, or any of the candidates for that matter, on a personal level we cannot truthfully say that we hate him. How can you hate somebody if you don’t even know them?

So no, I will not be voting for Mr. Trump in this upcoming election. But despite how little respect I have for the man, I would never go as far as to say that I hate him. I don’t hate anyone, and honestly I think all of us, even Mr. Donald Trump, could benefit from adopting that mindset as well.