Today's A Rough Day In America

Today's a rough day in America.The man with the lowest approval rating in the history of our country became president today. Our nation is divided (and has been so since Election Day) and I don't know when that will be fixed because I don't believe our new President has the ability to unite us (in fact, I believe this has been the most divisive election in modern history). And with 54 percent of Americans also viewing Trump unfavorably, I'd say a lot of people would agree with me.

But here's the thing. Trump is already our President. There's nothing, NOTHING, we can do about that. So while we might not support his ideologies or believe in what he stands for, we have to suck it up. Protesting can only get us so far. Protesting creates hostile energy. Do I support protesting? 100 percent. We should all feel like our voices are heard and our government needs to know that we don't support who is in the top office. But what we need to do right now is have conversations with our neighbors and our local and state representatives. So many of our laws vary state by state, which is why we need to talk to our neighbors to understand what's best for all of us and then talk to local and state representatives so that they can understand our needs and keep those in mind when making decisions on legislation. Sure, when it comes to things like national security and military decisions, Trump pretty much has final say. But when it comes to what is actually made into a law, there is a much larger process that takes all viewpoints into account. Our government is not the enemy. Lack of communication, hatred, ignorance - they are the enemy.

We need to have faith in our government and faith in our fellow Americans. We need to have faith that the checks and balances system that is in place will keep laws from passing that will revert us back to a sexist, racist, elitist, whatever-ist state that it was decades ago. We have made so much progress in the past decade. Healthcare is available to more people than ever, anyone can marry anyone regardless of sexual orientation, women are fighting for their rights for equal pay and PEOPLE ARE LISTENING. We need to have faith that our fellow Americans also believe in basic human rights and that just because we're different doesn't mean we're not equal.

The best thing we can do right now for our country is to listen to each other. Because right now, we're not listening. We're hearing each other, but we're not listening. We need to listen and find some common ground that can unite us all. Because being this divided of a country is not good for us. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Hatred cannot drive out hatred; only love can do that." And I'm tired of hatred. And I hope you are too.

Today is a rough day in America. So why don't we all try to get though it together?