Something was different when I woke up Wednesday. The view outside my window was the same,  I was the same age as the day before, and my hair was still brown, but something was monumentally different from the day before. Donald Trump had been elected president.

Despite how it sounds, the above sentence is not a quote from the Simpson’s.

It really happened, and it surprised millions.

Donald J. Trump has been a household name for quite a while already. He is known for his reality TV shows, constant harassment of women, blatant racism, and relentless self promotion, putting himself where everyone can see him.

Not much has changed.  

Trump’s campaign has been based on foundations of hate, ignorance, and intolerance. The three main elements that have so boldly defined America’s past.

But we have come so far and worked so hard to overcome these setbacks. America has made momentous strides towards equality, acceptance, and understanding.

Gay marriage is now legal in every state, there is more diversity and inclusion in the media, marijuana is in the process of legalization, and so many other issues have been addressed, and for the first time, brought to the public eye.

We had our first black president, Barack Obama. Which is insane. America– that was built on the backs of the same people who still, to this day, must endlessly fight for their rights– had a black president. It was a new era.

But then America was thrown an angry little orange curveball and half the nation painted itself red, and the other half blue. War was declared between the two parties and the media was ground zero.

In the span of just two short years, Tump has become a prominent new symbol in our society. He has manufactured this image of himself as the modern embodiment of intolerance in America, and has managed to undo so much of the progress we have worked for just by speaking.

Minutes after trump won the presidency, the nation went into panic mode.

Peaceful protests have spread across the nation, a walkout was staged at a high school in Arizona, rallies full of dangerously ecstatic Trump supporters gathered in the streets chanting racist slurs and demanding the wall they were promised. Some of the peaceful protests later became riots. A gay man was severely beaten by Trump supporters.

Hundreds have been arrested.

No one person should ever be capable of causing this amount of discord in America and then given the title of president.

America has too much influence on the rest of the world. What’s going to happen when America can’t stand up anymore?

We are too dependant on our media sources, that we have forgotten the power that we as the people still hold.

Everyone needs to stop for a second and take a deep breath. Everything is going to be okay. We can survive this.

Stop rioting and crying, that’s not going to accomplish anything. We have to keep working, and moving forward. Keep pushing for progress. If we just roll over at the first obstacle in our path, then Trump really does win.