(EDITORIAL) – Many Americans woke up this morning in complete fear and shock of our nation under the newly-elected president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
I, however, am not scared.
As a person who supported neither Hillary Clinton nor Donald Trump through the election. I am still proud to be an American.
I have never been the type of person to express my political views on social media or even to my friends, but this election has kept me especially silent.
I should be proud, as an American citizen, to say that I voted for the candidate who won the title of the 45th president of the United States without being called racist, sexist, privileged, homophobic, etc.
It is important for people to have conversations with others who believe in different things and hearing what they say instead of needing to constantly be right. The nation thrives on politics, and the different political views of the American people are what separate us from the rest of the world. It is a unique privilege to be able to vote for someone who you personally feel is worthy to speak for the nation.
Although Trump was not my first choice, he, to me, was the obvious choice.
Many people cannot get past his crude remarks, which I struggle with, but as soon as he was elected, I have never seen so much hate on social media come from people who preach so much peace.
The Clinton campaign was about building bridges, not walls. So where are those bridges?
One of the most personally offensive viral posts I have seen on Facebook said, “If you vote for Trump today, make sure to explain to your LGBT+, female, black, Latino/a, Muslim friends why they don’t matter to you.”
That is not what this election was to me and was not my motive while making my decision. As a human being, I am equally as sad as the rest of the American people about the hatred that has been thrown into these communities.
This election, however, means much more to me than politics.
As someone who wants to work for the government after graduation, voting Trump was a choice I made in security for my own future.
My vote was intended to help America break away from the corruption and incompetence that has characterized the country for years and I believe we need someone like Trump who has not been politicized to help us put the right foot forward.
As the 40th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, once said, “If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”
Never stop fighting for what you believe in.