Tuesday November 8th, 2016, election day.
Wednesday November 9th, 2016, post-election day.
I woke up the day after the election not knowing who our new president was. My reaction after finding out? Nothing. I felt no emotion. I wasn’t happy, and I wasn’t sad. I just didn’t feel anything. It was going to take awhile to process the new information I had just received. As I walked to my first class of the day, I pushed the thought of a new president aside. Though let me tell you, talk of our nation’s new president and the election were far from over despite the fact that this had all occurred the day before. All of the madness from the previous night had left a haze over my friends, classmates, and teachers. Upon arriving to my favorite class of the day, I walked in with a smile on my face, as always. After settling in, I realized that all of my friends were just sitting in silence, listening to my professor talk. She was very calm when she said, “I didn’t think we would be able to start class off like we normally do,” and then proceeded to give us some words of advice. Because of her, I had the inspiration to write this letter to you all. I encourage you to really think about what you say, what you do, and who you surround yourself with.
Be strong. Be strong for those around you: your mom, dad, sister, brother, friend, grandma, grandpa, classmate, teacher, coworker, and even the people you don’t know. You don’t know how those around you voted, you don’t know how the election affected them, and you don’t know what goes on in their daily lives. You. Don’t. Know. Be kind to everyone. We all have our ups and our downs. Sometimes a simple act of kindness can turn someone’s day around, so keep that in mind. Humans are fragile and we tend to forget that. Think positively. It is easy to fall into a trap of doubtful thoughts, so keep your chin up. We can only take life day by day.
Before I part, I have one last message, and it’s probably the most important one. I would like to leave you with this… I had seen a play recently on campus and one of the characters in the play said something that struck a chord with me. He said, “We need to have kinder hearts and wider minds.” We do. We need this. Pass it on.