As an 18-year-old with her first election approaching, this question has been on my mind a lot recently: Can political differences really determine a friendship?
Growing up liberal in a predominantly conservative town, I was bound to have many friends who were not on the same page as myself. I recognize that most of them take on whatever stance their parents preach to them, but how can one be so content without researching for themselves? I always told myself I could be friends with people of differing political views, as long as we didn’t discuss that topic. However, as I get older, I realize it’s more than just a vote. Its morals, beliefs, standards, and basic human rights are at stake. A decision one is willing to make knowing it will impact all of America.
Now, I have found myself asking questions such as: Can I be friends with a guy who believes I shouldn’t be granted full bodily autonomy? Can I be friends with someone who supports an adjudicated rapist? Can I be friends with someone who is okay with a presidential candidate undermining democracy? When I ask myself these questions, I realize who you vote for determines parts of your character, parts that I just cannot turn a blind eye to.
I recently had a friendship breakup with my best friend of four years. We were the type of friends where people would ask us where the other one was if we weren’t together. I shed many tears over the summer, given I had thought she would be in my life forever.
Throughout our friendship, she was aware of how passionate I was about politics yet never chimed in. However, once our friendship ended, she began to repost TikToks in praise of Donald Trump. This shocked me. I knew that she came from a conservative family, yet I still held out hope that she would research on her own and come to a more rational perspective. Part of me believes that she began doing this in spite of me, but whatever the reason, it deeply hurt my heart.
Looking back on the hundreds of videos we made together, the countless hours I would spend at her house, and staying up late at night to watch rom-coms, I yearn to experience that again. But, I realize that the girl I once called my platonic soulmate, can not be the same person who is supporting the disgusting man that is Trump.
Thucydides, an Athenian historian and general, once said, “We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say that he has no business here at all.” We need to understand that voting is a right that cannot be taken lightly. Being educated on what is at stake is not a suggestion, it is a must.
Now in college, I am surrounded by like-minded people everywhere I go. I genuinely feel happier and healthier than I ever was back home. So, however fondly I look back on memories with old friends, there’s no doubt that leaving them in the past is the best decision. I cannot flourish in an environment surrounded by people who support someone who is the epitome of everything I stand against. In the end, human decency has to be held to a higher standard than the friendship of someone who is unable to understand your heart.