By KATIE KLIMACEK
Co-Executive Editor
Dear Saint Rose community and Chronicle readers,
This past week has been one that will go down in the history. For many of us, it is not a positive occasion, instead it is a moment that seemingly says that hate is what ultimately wins.
Many of us are still processing the reality that, within a matter of weeks, a man with no political background or understanding of the democracy that the American people hold dear to their hearts, will be running our country.
Honestly, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the outcome of the presidential election. Like many my age, this was my first time voting in a major election and to feel like my vote did nothing is, a hard pill to swallow.
Within a matter of hours after the results came in and the nation knew that Trump was going to be the 45th president, those who supported him started to express what the outcome meant to them.
Videos and social media posts started appearing of people telling Mexican Americans that they are going to be deported and Muslim women and girls were taking off their hijabs in fear that they would be targets of hate crimes. At the same time, those who didn’t support Trump shared posts on Facebook and Twitter of how this is going to affect our country and quickly pointed a finger in blame at those who supported the president elect.
With all of that being said, this is my thought on the future.
Right now, we as a nation, are broken. We are at our lowest low. And even though it seems like all hope is lost and there is seemingly no way out of this mess, this is the best time for change.
We as a nation of people who feel unheard, left out, and forgotten on both sides–Republican and Democratic– we need to seize the opportunity before us. There is an opportunity for us to look at each other and realize that in the end, we are fighting for a future.
A future in which everyone is considered and respected by their country. Everyone wants to be heard, everyone wants to know that their government cares about them, and everyone wants to know that they are going to be okay at the end of the day.
In order for us to move forward from our national divide, we have to take a moment to realize that we are truly, stronger together.
Right now, the country is divided and both sides want their voice to be heard. So each side raises their voice every time the other side gets louder. Eventually, the voices become nothing more than a meaningless sound within a deep, never ending void.
Change doesn’t happen by yelling, change happens by listening.
In order to move on from this fractured point in our history, we need to listen to each other. You don’t have to agree with one another or join the other side’s bandwagon. You just need to listen.
I think it’s important to remember to take the higher road the next four years. I will admit, it’s going to suck, but we mustn’t fight this battle the same way that Trump and his supporters fought theirs. Don’t fight with hate, name calling, and blaming. Instead, fight with smiles, love, and compassion and most of all, understanding.
We have to understand that not everyone who voted for Trump are gun wielding, hateful, people. They are our parents, our family members, and neighbors. They are the people who bag your groceries and tell you to have a nice day, they are factory workers who want to keep their jobs to support their families, they are educated people hoping that he will actually bring some kind of change to the stale system and they are the people who are probably not going to reap the benefits that he promised so many.
I know it’s hard to love when there is so much hate in our country right now, but that hate is only going to burn the progress that our nation has made up until now. My mom has always said “kill them with kindness”–the only thing that is going to make things better at this point is the kindness we show to one another.
It’s hard, believe me, I know. How can I love someone who thinks that another human being deserves to be treated like dirt because of their beliefs or ethnicity? How can I love someone who thinks that a woman doesn’t have control over her own body? How can I love someone who takes hateful rhetoric to the next level and acts upon their words, attacking and killing those who are different then them
But if we keep fighting with hatred, we will get nowhere, nothing will change, and whatever progress has been made will have been thrown away.
You’re probably reading this and thinking, “how does this twenty-something college student know she’s talking about?”
Well, I like to think that you don’t have to be a scholar to know that it is a lot easier to love someone then it is to hate them. I know that by yelling at those who disagree with me is not going to make them want to see my side anymore then they already do. And I know that we can accomplish more as one unified nation then as separate, individual entities.
At the start of this letter I said that the results of this election seem to prove that hate ultimately wins.
The reality is that this battle, this fight for what is right, and this struggle for true freedom and democracy has only just begun. We as a nation have the opportunity to get off of Facebook and out from behind a heated keyboard and use our collected anger and frustration as an instrument for change. Instead of talking and tweeting about what we want to see happen, let’s actually do it.
There is no better time to enact change than when everything has fallen apart. Why? Because instead of trying to grab at the bits and pieces we once had, it’s best to just pick up a blank piece of paper and start over.
It might sound foolish, but I am truly hopeful from where I am standing right now. The thought of both sides, Republican and Democrat, far left and far right, black and white, men and women, young and old, for once finally coming together in an effort to make life better for each other is one that look forward too.
I see the potential for all of use to finally see both sides of the coin and not be limited to just what we choose to see. Love, understanding and hope are powerful things. It’s just a matter of how they are utilized.
Peace,
Katie
