After a whirlwind of an election and social media going absolutely crazy, Donald Trump came out on top. Whether we are excited about the outcome or really upset, we need to respect each other’s opinions. This was a huge issue during the election with people on opposite sides of the spectrum attacking each other.
Now that our president is officially inaugurated, it seems as though the uneasy stir of citizens all around us is coming back. Non-supporters are even claiming that Trump is “not their president.”
I understand not supporting certain policy issues that he proclaimed during his election, but the bottom line is that we need to be positive about the situation we are in and hope that he will get things done in a respectful manner. How can we expect him to be excited to take charge and be the president he needs to be if we are proclaiming that he is not our president?
We still live in this country under the same democracy we have always lived under, and that is not changing. We can stand up for what we believe in and continue to support the causes we believe in, but we ultimately need to support each other and our president.
Not only are we harming Trump’s motivation, we are also spreading hate and disrespect when we can be taking this difficult time to lift each other up. We need to be there for our fellow citizens, for people who are confused, for our families and friends that are struggling, and be there in regards to our government.
No matter how attacked we feel, we ultimately need to ban together to make this right, instead of tearing each other down in an effort to prove how right we are.
We are all entitled to our own opinion, and that is why we live in America. We want to encourage love and not hate, and peace and not war, but this cannot be done without proclaiming that we will not accept the outcome of the election.
This past election season has been the craziest one I have seen in my 21 years, and it was the first election I was able to vote in, which made it especially memorable.
Before writing this piece, I decided to search the #notmypresident tag on Twitter, and some points are definitely valid, but a lot of them are doing more harm than good through spreading hate.
The impact of social media is larger than it ever has been in the past, and it’s amazing to see how greatly it has impacted politics. That being said, we need to be more and more careful of what we are posting because we never really know the truth about what is going around on the web.
For example, many stories about both candidates turned about to be fake news that people from around the world were getting paid to write. It is important to know straight facts before posting a status about an issue because we never know who or what we are harming.
I know that many around the country are struggling right now with the outcome of our presidency, and I am not here to tell you that you are wrong for hurting. I am here to ask that you take a look at the bigger picture.
How do we, as a free and united country, look right now to the rest of the world? We need to take this time to join together instead of pulling apart, and lift each other up instead of tearing each other down.
In the long run, no matter what your stance is, it will only make it easier on not only yourself, but on your country and your fellow Americans.
Breanna Connell is a fourth-year student majoring in communication studies with a minor in journalism. She can be reached at BC810217@wcupa.edu.