Dear Mr. or Mrs. President,

In the 2016 National Democratic Convention Cory Booker, junior US senator, stated “we cannot devolve into a nation where our highest aspirations are that we just tolerate each other”; I agree with this statement profoundly. Right now America is in a state where our prejudices are leading to fear, violence, hate, loss, blame, outrage, misguided revelations, divide and so many other negative things. We all have our prejudices whether we own up to them or not, and in this day and age that is not uncommon. America has made it a goal to equalize everyone, this is good, but in doing this we are leaning towards toleration rather than easy living. Let me explain, as a nation we tolerate things we don’t understand, we get frustrated over rumors, stereotypes and statistics without asking how these things came about. Our ways of tolerating are to ignore an idea or culture as a way of making it disappear; we just exist together rather than live together. This should not be; a nation so vast and diverse should enjoy one another and the different cultures. Not saying that everyone will like one another or get along, but it would be nice if people could be pleasant, be kind. A goal I feel the US should have as a nation is implementing classes and or information sessions where people can take the time to learn about a custom, tradition or cultural event that is different than their own. Hopefully, in learning about other cultures and ethnicities, we can break stereotypes and build bridges to truth. If America is America because of our diversity why don't we relish in our differences and enjoy teaching one another what our culture is all about.

Currently, there is a problem. Kenneth T. Walsh wrote an article called “Turned Off”, which discussed the tension between the two major party candidates. Walsh stated that the two major party candidates do “their best to totally discredit each other” and that “when the next president takes office, assuming it will be one of the major-party nominees, Clinton and Trump will be so discredited that neither one will be able to govern effectively”. There has been so much mutual bashing between major party candidates that the character of each candidate has been so tarnished in one way or another, that it will make it difficult for the American people to trust the next president. How can people follow someone they do not trust?

Throughout this race, while both major party candidates advocated for change or for love, they treated each other with so much hate and disrespect. America is full of hate and disrespect, no change and where their is hate there can be no love. Hate and love do not come from the same place. The hate and disrespect the two major party candidates throw back and forth makes me think, how will this person run the country and will they continue this behavior in the oval?

America's does not need any more hate than it already possesses. I asked that as our new president you let love and compassion shine through your actions, and that you let love have a place in your decision making process. It is a given that everyone will not like every decision you make as president, and every decision you make will not benefit everyone; I may not even like a future decision you make, but the point is in utilizing love in the decision making process you are able to see commonalities in a list of differences. For instance, if I listed different races, religious affiliations, and sexual orientations like, Black, Korean, Islam, Gay, Jewish, Cambodian, White, African, Transgender, French-Canadian, Christianity, Agnostic, etc. what would you see? Would you see one very prominent commonality in the midst of all of these different categories? Would you see that all people who fall into these listed (and unlisted) categories are HUMAN. When I say human I mean a person with feelings, opinions, triumphs and failures. When I say human I mean a person, who at the very least, deserves to be loved and respected, no matter what they look like or what they believe to be correct. As president, you need to be able to see beyond your personal beliefs and prejudices to make healthy decisions for our country and its inhabitants.

Our country was founded on hate, founders slaughtering a race and enslaving another to escape the meritocracy that burdened them. I ask as president that you stand tall in the White House; a house built by slaves to house a leader, a decision maker. I say a house built by slaves not to make you feel guilty, but to remind you what our country was at one point, and over 200 years later how we have changed. America has gotten better, but we still have a long way to go until we can be considered a united nation.

As president you have a major platform. Use it. Use it to show people that hate cannot cancel hate. It is basic teachings of childhood to treat others the way you want to be treated. As Americans we are taught this in kindergarten; why can't we apply this to our lives as adults?

All this being said, my main question for you Mr. or Mrs. President is... Are you willing to lead by example, to love on others even though it is an unpopular stance in our country?

Tell me , what kind of president are you going to be? Tell me.

Kind Regards,

Callie Hutcheson