It has been one week since the 2016 election. One week later, I am heartbroken by the aftermath of the election. Terrible things have been done to and initiated by both sides, all sides because it is not a dichotomy. I’m not generally a political person, but I’m not immune to being affected by politics. I am not entirely unaware of my surroundings. I also have access to the internet, which is wildly opinionated and a wee bit crazy, but also extremely informative if you want to weed through the trolls and false sources.

Look. I am not here to pile my opinion onto everyone else’s or to complain about how the election did not go the way I wanted. I think we have enough articles about how we are doomed and we should rid the country of the electoral college system and there is even this proposal of Calexit. I am saddened and outraged for a variety of reasons I am sure many others have already shared, some who are far more eloquent and well-informed than I could ever hope to be. Yet, there is something I want to address, which is the fear.

I am inundated by not only the anger and protests which have come from the election but also the fear people have either felt or inspired, depending on which end of the spectrum you land on. My heart is broken for the way people have so easily slipped into the mindset of “us” and “them.” It breaks even more at the realization of how latent this mindset has always been and it is only due to the circumstances that they feel comfortable publicly acting upon it.

You should not have to live in fear. You should not have to worry about walking alone without people to defend you or going to your school/workplace or of wearing something which indicates your religion. You should not have to live in a world where people are scared of the unknown but the reality is that you are so much more scared than they will ever be because they actually have the power to hurt you and you, all you have is what makes you different.

I wish, with all my heart, that the world was a better place, that I could actually believe in the good in people more than the bad. But if there is one guarantee in life, besides death and taxes, it is that life is not fair. The world is broken. Perhaps it will one day be fixable, but today is not that day.

I cannot ask you to “put aside differences so we can be united” because honestly, I love my differences. If by “put aside” you mean assimilate or pretend we are all the same, then I refuse. But if by “put aside” you mean embrace and seek to understand, then I accept. You see, I am not against the idea of unity. I think it is a beautiful vision. However, I would like to think we can be different yet unified. Not only that, I think we need to heal before we can even attempt to be unified.

To push for unity without healing is to tell someone his or her pain does not matter. To pretend there is no pain is a terrible coping mechanism which is toxic to an individual. Individuals make up this world and one individual’s pain can affect a whole community. So we must not ignore that pain or force others to ignore it, must not push it under the rug for the sake of a shallow “unity.”

There is no easy solution or fix for the world and it is easy to fall into despair when looking at the world with all of its problems. I am not one for optimism, but I do believe there is hope for a future of unity. Perhaps not today, but maybe tomorrow. Maybe we will be making baby steps for the rest of our lives and we will never see the fruit of it, but as long as we continue to move forward, there is hope. Hope for no more fear. Hope for a unity not built upon ignored pain.