When A Beautiful Thing Yields An Unfavorable Result

At this point you are probably either extremely happy or extremely somber.

If you did vote for Trump, congratulations – I am sincerely glad that you got to elect somebody into office who you believe will lead this country in the right direction - that's one of the beautiful basic rights we have in the United States.

If you did not vote for Trump and are truly horrified by the outcome of this election, I want you to know two things:

1. We are fortunate enough to live in a country that allows us to live our lives the way we want, and to believe in what we want. And ultimately, no persons, no president, no celebrity, absolutely nobody, can make those decisions for us. At the end of the day we get to make those decisions for ourselves. And,

2. If you are truly opposed to a Trump presidency, then at this point the best thing you can do is be extra mindful of being kind and compassionate and respectful moving forward. Do not bash Trump supporters on social media, do not say that you're not proud to be American, do not joke about moving out of the country. Instead, conduct yourself in a manner that shows that you disagree with Trump's words and behaviors. If you really want to oppose Trump, show the world that not all of us are like him.

Taking a step back to look at the big picture and ignoring the actual outcome, I think there is a larger issue that is starting to rear its ugly head around the corner. And that larger issue is, what does it take to make a winning campaign.

This election if anything was just purely exhausting. Everybody was tired at the end of it, both the candidates and the voters. Which to me is really sad because the presidential election is supposed to be a symbol of our country believing in the right for people to have a say in who our government leaders are, which is something many people around the world don't get to have.

And yet this time around the presidential election was something nobody was looking forward to. There were many people who saw this election as choosing the lesser of the two evils, instead of what it should be, which is choosing the better of the two leaders.

From day one, this election was going to be significant – for the first time there was a real chance that the first female president was going to be elected. And then on top of that, what nobody had expected, a non-politician candidate entered the race. And not just any non-politician candidate, a non-politician candidate with a "say-anything that comes to mind" mindset.

As the election moved forward, words were said, punches were thrown, tweets were posted. And then moving further down the line, more words were said, name calling behavior ensued, social media became a battleground for opposing sides. Until finally, down to the final month, unkind words and personal insults became the norm.

And that right there, is the ugly head of the precedence that has been set forth from this election.

This election sends the message that to convince people that you are the best candidate to hold the most powerful position in the White House, instead of promoting good causes, you should play up on people's fears. Instead of offering solutions to important issues, you should use Twitter to attack people. Instead of telling people how your experiences have prepared you for presidency, you should make offensive comments about their personal lives.

I think both candidates at some point, to at least some extent have been guilty of these negative behaviors during this past year – arguable some more so than others. But the point is that this negative behavior became the norm during the election process.

And if we can behave this way during the most important election process for the country, what says we can't behave this way everyday?

A presidency lasts four-years, but a precedence lasts a lifetime.

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