I'm here today to talk about yesterday.
As I'm sure you know, I live in America and it was a big day for us.
We woke up yesterday morning to find Donald Trump as the new president here in the United States.
I think that we can all agree, regardless of who you we're supporting, that it was a pretty big shock that he actually won.
I didn't stay up on Tuesday night to see the results. I went to bed as usual but I woke up around 1 a.m. randomly. I quickly checked my phone just to see what was going on and Trump was in the lead. What??? That didn't seem right. I put my phone down and I fell back asleep shortly after. Then 5:30 a.m. came around. My alarm went off and I thought to myself that I must have had a dream that I checked my phone and Trump was in the lead. I went back to Google and quickly found out it was true. Donald Trump, a celebrity with no political experience, was our new president.
I live in a rural area full of Trump supporters. They're not bad people. They wave when they drive past Roxy and I on our nightly walk and would probably help me out if need be. I'm not sure if any of them will read this, but if so I just want to be able to peacefully agree to disagree. I don't want it to seem like I'm attacking anyone because that is not the case. I am coming from a place of love and am simply stating how it is from my point of view. I have this platform and I feel like I need to use it to speak my mind.
Anyways, I see front yards are scattered with "Make America Great Again," "Hillary For Prison," and "Trump That Bitch" signs. I've been seeing it and hearing it for months. I've become used to it. One thing that I didn't get used to though was the racist, sexist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments being made by Trump himself and his supporters that surrounded me and many of us here in the US.
And upon waking up yesterday to the news, I became sad.
There's a lot of things that went over in my mind. One of them being that Trump has spoken out about climate change being a "hoax." Upsetting, yes. That's not what I want to discuss today though. There is plenty of time for vegan/environmental activism that I have vowed to amp up a bit in the future. Stay tuned. Today is all about people. The people we know and the strangers miles away that we'll never get to meet. It's about all of us. I recognize how much fear and hurt has been cultivated over time through the judgment and hatred towards others because of their skin color, social class, sexual preference, gender, nationality, etc.
Yesterday I was so sorry for all of that. Well, I am still so sorry. I'm sorry to everyone who has endured the repercussions of the issues that have been brought up during this election. The issues that didn't just appear over the recent months. These things have been happening much longer than that but now people are experiencing them in a different light. Now we're teaching boys that you can "grab em by the pussy" and become president and we're teaching girls that if you're sexually assaulted that you were "asking for it" or "deserved it." It's all wrong, disappointing, and so sad. But now instead of just feeling bad about it I'm also angry, motivated, and inspired to do more.
We don't have to sit back and let this all continue. We all are humans and we should be treated equally regardless of our differences. It sounds so simple, right? Yet we are so far from that base of equality.
We've got a lot of work to do.
Together we can make changes.
We need to lead with love, respect, and compassion.
Because after all, love trumps hate.
We must remember that, not only in times of frustration and anger, but always. It's our time now. We can come together and come out on top. No violence. No attacks. No hate. None of that will get us anywhere. In fact, it'll take us further away from what we're trying to achieve. All that we all want is love, safety, security, and happiness. All of us. Trump supporters, Hillary supporters, and everyone in between. That's all that we want. We might be divided as a nation right now but deep down we are all so similar. We each cast a vote yesterday for our own personal reasons, I understand that. And I know that it's hard to accept, but we must. We need to accept and forgive the outcome and those who have made it such. It's time now to get to work. We need to let our voices be heard. Speak up, educate, spread love. It's the only way. Let's help shed some light on why this election shook us all so bad. Be kind. Open up. Talk to people. You never know who you'll help to understand where you're coming from and what you're going through. You matter. Never, ever forget that. We have the ability to make change happen. We'll have to work a little bit harder to get there but we'll do it together.