Now Is Not The Time To Be Comfortable With Silence

So many of us are speechless. But now isn’t the time for silent prayers. It isn’t the time to dismiss the past, to forget the election campaigns, and to ignore everything that was said.

No.

We can accept that the majority of the country put Trump in power. We can accept that the anticipation and excitement we felt as the rest of us pushed for Clinton to smash through the glass ceiling has dissipated within just a couple of hours.

We can continue to look towards the future with optimism and hope.

But what we absolutely cannot do—as a nation, as hopeful Millennials, as anyone who truly wants to implement change—is be comfortable with silence.

Do not silence your voice.

Do not suppress the bile that builds up in your throat when you see sexism, racism, homophobia, bigotry, and hate.

Do not stop fighting for your basic human rights. For you to have control over your body. For you to require consent. For you to feel safe. For you to be heard. For you to live.

It’s not the time to be silent. It’s not the time to pull your loved ones close and patiently brace yourselves for whatever’s to come. It’s not the time to escape.

It’s time to get to work. It’s time to start building. It’s time to start being vocal, being headstrong, and being loud about how we’re going to pull ourselves back up.

It’s a devastating setback. In more ways than one. But instead of dwelling on the “How?” and “Why?,” we should be focusing on the “What’s next?”

Do remember the power that your voice has.

Do remember that you have the potential to contribute to a bigger push towards change.

Do remember how lucky you are that you can’t be silenced.

Our voices, our perspectives, our opinions—these are all the foundations of creating the necessary change that we want to see.

Change is what we need, and our voices are going to help create it.