Gustavus is a college that I deeply admire for so many reasons. The inclusion of all students and diversity of thought makes Gustavus a college that is rich with compassion. Gustavus is a safe college, and is not afraid to support its students.

During this year’s presidential election, students felt passion to “get out the vote,” by using signs, going door to door, and openly expressing their opinions. This is good, as colleges and universities are supposed to be places of free thought and exchange of ideas. This country does, after all, cherish freedom of speech.

One of the presidential candidates that many students had issues with was Donald Trump. He is now president of the United States and it has been three months since the election, and almost three weeks since the inauguration. There is a fair amount of students on this campus, and throughout the United States, who are protesting.

Protests broke out throughout the country, and even worldwide people are expressing their disgust for our newly elected president.

As the election grew closer, and people started taking Trump’s campaign more seriously, more and more protests and riots started occurring. In 2016, before the election in November, over thirty substantial protests occurred.

This includes the beginning of the slogan “Love Trumps Hate” which was said to have started on May 7 in Washington. The protesters made a point to speak out against his policy stances regarding women, Hispanics, and Muslims.

During this protest on May 7 the authorities announced that “a small number of arrests” were made. Although many of the protests have been relatively civil, many have also turned into violent riots. Injuries and property damage were reported.

One of the first reported violent protests was in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where protesters started throwing rocks and bottles at police officers, where they smashed a glass door at the convention center, and then burned a number of Trump signs and flags, which then filled the street with smoke.

After this it seemed much more common for protests to turn to riots, where people routinely were on top of police cars, throwing rocks, and harassing of Trump supporters. The most severe riots and protests happened after he won the election on Tuesday, November 8.

One of the largest protests was The Women’s March, which took place on Jan. 21. There were a total of 637 of these same protests worldwide. In Minnesota alone there were over 100,000 protesters, which was almost 5 times the anticipated number.

The point of these protests was to protect legislation and policies regarding human rights and other issues, which included women’s rights, immigration reform, healthcare reform, the environment, LGBTQ+ rights and racial equality. Although the Minnesota protest stayed relatively calm many of these protests led to rioting and violence.

Traditionally the losing side of the election tends to be bitter towards the ending results. Throughout history there have been shocking election results, including Bush vs. Gore. However, by far the most protested was this past election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Both of these elections, although very different, happen to have one thing in common: acceptance. Accepting what has happened is something we must do in order to move on. 

Think about America’s future, your families and your life in ten years from now, and think about what you can do before the next election.

With all the protests and riots happening around us, you may feel discouraged to share your opinion, especially if your opinion is contrary to the majority. When conservatives voice their opinion on campus they are often shut down immediately.

Unfortunately there seems to be a social stigma attached to being a Republican and a Trump supporter. Being a Republican doesn’t make you racist, homophobic, or fascist. We base everything on the content of one’s character.

Being open to others opinions is important, but what is more important is being true to yourself, and understanding what is going on around you.

Empathy is the ability to understand how someone else is feeling, and you can handle anything in life if you know what defines you. If you do not understand something, learn about it, even if it is not your ideology.

I encourage you to go out of your comfort zone and try and see life from the perspective of a conservative you know, or if you are conservative try and step in the shoes of a liberal friend. There is no right or wrong answer in politics, it is all opinion based.

Being able to express free speech is an amazing thing that not everyone gets the opportunity to have, but that doesn’t mean you should abuse such a power.

Take a deep breath and accept the things around you.