Making America “Great” Again
In light of the election, I felt that it was only right to write about it. It is a cathartic release, as is the protesting, emotional Facebook and Twitter posts, and the arguments between family and friends.
Please note: I am aware that many choose to turn away from such posts, and others are close-minded to views that may be different than their own, but I feel that this is a piece that anyone can read-regardless of your views on the outcome of the election.
Hear me out.
With Trump as the 2016 presidential-elect, America is on its way to being made great again. Truly, incredibly great. That’s right, everything that the man has claimed in his campaign is true (even though there were a few lies here and there). America, within these next four years, will peak like never before. Change is on its way.
Just not in the ways that you may think.
We will not find greatness through regressing. We will not be great by building a wall, nor will we be great by banning an entire group of people from entering the land of the free that we speak so proudly of. We will not ever be a great country if we do not allow people to be who they are, to love who they love, or to receive basic, decent human rights. A country that does not value its people, their diversity, their culture, or their greatness is not a country that could ever be great.
Greatness is not achieved through violence, through division, or through building boundaries to close ourselves off from others. There is a limited reasoning for going to such lengths, and it is a very complex reasoning that is far from Trump’s. Greatness is achieved by building a foundation of truth, respect for one another, and by committing to excellence. By rejecting mediocrity and refusing to let ourselves destroy each other. What makes America so great is its people, and should we ever choose to isolate, harm, oppress, or neglect any group of people, we are choosing ignorance and hatred. Should we have reason to generalize an entire group of people because of one misfortunate event, we are choosing insecurity within ourselves.
So rather than retreat in defeat, let the results of this historical election fuel you.
Women will fight harder than ever before to achieve the greatness that they deserve. Tired of being second to man, this election will bring forth the fiercest, toughest, most intelligent women that this country could possibly imagine. The fight for equality will never step aside, and, regardless of the horrifying rape culture and sexism that Trump and some of his supporters have implemented, this is a time where women will show their true strength. Awareness of sexism, rape culture, and the inequalities between gender is more alive than ever before.
People of color have not backed down. The greatness of diversity will stand still within this country. It will fight to be valued and refused to be destroyed. It is ignorant to call an entire group of people racist, but it is even more ignorant to say that racism does not exist. If America has not accepted that there is a problem, that racism is alive in this country, then there will never be a solution. People of color is what makes this country unique and different from the rest. Diversity is what makes America great.
Immigrants who have come here with nothing, and have given us their everything, will only fight harder. They are here to stay. It is ignorant to say that they are lazy, it is small-minded to say that they are rapists, dirty, or have not contributed anything to be here-to generalize them all as one when the people generalizing them get offended when they are generalized. To tell someone to get out of our country, to leave because they do not belong here, or to have the boldness to look someone in the eyes and tell them that they are anything less than human because they are different is demeaning, disgusting, and says more about you as a person than it will ever define them. Together, we will fight to protect those who have come here to escape a country that is everything America claims it is not. This is how America will be truly great.
Those who identify with the LGBTQ+ community will love who they love. To restrict or ban an abstract emotion when it is not harmful creates the very opposite: hate. Love is love, and who is anyone to tell someone that they cannot achieve something as great as love. What makes America great is love. To defy any type of love is to defy greatness.
We as an entire united people, in such a time of vulnerability, regardless of our differences, need to come together and be strengthened by one another more than ever before. To avoid repeating history, we must fight to make our own.
The election divided us, but the results will unite us. And this is how America will be made great again.