With everything that has happened since Trump became the Republican nominee, this quote comes to my mind. I consider myself to be fairly loving, open, and accepting of those that think differently than I do. However, I do have my limits, and being this person is becoming very difficult.
I do understand why many voted for Trump, and many are good people who do not accept his hateful speech or behaviors. Many of Trump voters are angry about how some Trump supporters have taken Trump's victory as a free pass to harass and assault women, minorities, and members of the LGBTQ community. The problem is, everyone knew who he was before they voted for him. He was, and is, the embodiment of hate. Just as there are 'bad apples' in the group of Trump supporters, there are 'bad apples' who support Clinton, and 'bad apples' that support third parties or chose not to vote because they did not like their options. Trumps hatred is like a disease that is spreading, not just to his supporters, but spreading to those that oppose him as well. I have seen videos of Trump supporters being attacked, but the amount of those videos and stories are no where near the amount of stories I have read and videos I have watched where Trump supporters were the ones attacking women and minorities.
I still cannot return the hate for him or the people who voted for him.
The memes I have seen, and the posts and comments I have read in regards to the MANY Trump protests that are occurring do upset me. So many people seem to think the protests are happening because 'democrats didn't get their way and a Republican will be in office' or because 'their candidate did not win'. I apologize, but what fucking planet are you living on? Can you remove your blindfold for just a minute here. People are protesting because they do not want the embodiment of hate to lead their country. They are not okay with banning Muslims, they are not okay with women's and LGBTQ rights being squashed, and they are not okay with racism or making fun of people with disabilities. As I have said, there are 'bad apples' in this group that now have developed a different form of hate; a hate against those who do not understand this, or full out support what they are trying to fight against. Bottom line, the hate is dividing all of us, and the violence and harassment on all sides needs to end if we want to get anywhere. If you cannot understand why people are protesting, then ask someone to explain it, or keep to yourself. It hurts those that are fighting really hard for their rights, or rights of loved ones when you say, "stop whining and accept it", or "we didn't do this when Obama took office." OF COURSE YOU DIDN'T. YOUR RIGHTS AND SAFETY WERE NOT BEING THREATENED. Please remember, "we" did not protest like this when Bush took office, either. We were sad, but this is a much different situation here.
This is why this quote is coming to my mind. It is easy to say that I love, and will not hate, humanity as a whole, but when you see individual comments filled with hatred or blindness, it makes it hard to love that individual.
I do not have any problem when I cannot see eye to eye with someone. This is not the point. I have friends and family that support Trump, and while I disagree with this very deeply, none of them are directly spreading hate. It does make the relationships a little more difficult though. I have lots of gay family members, a couple Muslim friends, black friends and family, I have a disability and have friends and family members with disabilities. How would I try to make my Trump supporting friends and family understand WHY Trump is a problem? I have stated my reasoning publicly, but how do I get them to TRULY understand? The fact is, I can't. People have their beliefs, including political views for various reasons. It's like being at opposite ends of a 6 and a 9. From their point of view, a 6 is a 6 and that is the end of the story. I see a 9, and everyone on my side sees a 9 too. No one can turn their head enough to realize that it could be both, or look at from the side and it's neither, it's just a design. No letter, no number.
I am grateful that this situation has caused many to wake up to the problems in our political system and all the problems and division that the media causes. I have never seen so many people fired up to actually want to do something to make a difference. Perhaps this happened for a reason, to wake people up. Maybe we can finally actually make a difference now that we have the numbers.
I do apologize if this offends anyone, but this is just my opinion and my way of thinking and you certainly do not have to agree.