My Vote Wasn't an Option on the Ballot

The day after an election has always been a time to reflect on the past and look forward to the future. However, when I woke up this morning and did my daily social media check I was disgusted to see what America has come to. No, I wasn't disgusted by who believes who was the right choice for the new President. I was disgusted to see that America is more full of hate than it ever has been. I see people posting on Facebook asking for people who voted for Trump to delete them as friends because that means you open sexual assault, racism and inequality, but aren't they doing the same thing?  Your vote does not define your character nor does it dictate what you believe.

It was my first year to vote this year and I was disappointed in the choices before me that I somehow had to be okay with choosing. My reason for voting did not lie in the fact that I think my voice didn't matter, it didn't rest upon me being lazy or feeling like any of the candidates were qualified to run the country. I didn't vote because there wasn't the option of love and acceptance on the ballot. No where on the ballot did it give the option to check "acceptance, support, safety and love for all Americans."

This country was built on a melting pot of people. In my eyes, no one is more important or more valuable than anyone else no matter your race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or size of your paycheck. The people around me that wanted Hillary to win are so full of hate towards Donald Trump and his supporters and vice versa. Isn't that being hypocritical? No matter who the president is, we wake up and make the conscious choice every single day to be positive, spread love, remain respectful of differences and accept that we don't always have the power to make the choices we think should be made. Our nation has become so blindsided from this election that we can't seem to get a grasp on how amazing America actually is. Women are allowed to leave their house, we are allowed to write and say whatever we want, we are allowed to freely practice our religion of choice when and how we want to. There isn't another place like that in the world and right now it is so full of hatred. We control who America is, not the president. We make the decision to either fill this nation with love or bring it down with our hatred. It's not going to be the president that is our demise. It's going to be the American people. Hate will end us before decisions the president makes does.

We may not have the best outcome or be in the best situation right now, but as Americans we were given the freedom to make this nation whatever we want it to be. We were given the right to wake up everyday and make our own decisions. So let whoever you voted for be one for a nation full of happiness in hardships, laughter when life falls apart and love event there are obvious differences from the person sitting next to you on the bus. Choose to see that person as an American just like yourself and nothing less.

Instead of fretting over who voted for who, choose to vote for love, happiness and acceptance.  Choose to make the best of the situation you were given. Teach your children to treat people fairly no matter what they look like. Remind women that they are not defined by the size of their chest or by the man who thinks her body belongs to them. Teach your peers that honesty is the best policy and to never lie or deceive for that just creates hatred among you. And most importantly, teach yourself to have a heart and mind that only dispenses love. We don't have any more room in this nation for hatred to go, so get that out of our country. Lets build a wall so the hatred can't get in because that's not what America is about. Lets make America great again by coming together, holding hands and getting through the hardships these years might hold no matter who our president is.

XO- Sydney Lauren