BY KAYLA VALERA | STAFF WRITER

In the days following President Trump’s inauguration, many Americans felt that their basic human rights, in one way or another, were jeopardized at the hands of their new president.

Women’s rights, health care, education, the environment, as well as immigration policies are only a handful of the many issues that Americans are challenging in opposition to Trump’s own stance on these matters.

These vocal protestors and boycotters have been called out as “whiny liberals” or “delicate snowflakes” from across the political aisle. In turn, those who are firm in their support for Trump and these new changes have been pegged as purveyors of racism, misogyny, and overall hate.

All of this contempt that these parties harbor against each other has many Americans overwhelmed, myself included.

Coming from a conservative Republican family and having liberal Democrats as peers has allowed me to understand the rationality from both sides of the spectrum. The only problem is that I cannot simply choose a side because neither belief sways me more than the other; if I even attempted to pick a side, doing so would tear me apart.

My impartialness to these issues, however, doesn’t make me any more un-American than the next person. Instead of seeing this divisiveness as destructive and poisonous for this country, these exercises of peaceful protests are what defines America as a free country.

Our first amendment protection of free speech has, after all, propelled our country through turbulent tides of change. The voices of the people will never be silenced just as this feeling of dissatisfaction with the country’s current state will never be quelled. We as Americans will never settle and will always strive for what is right, in whatever manifestation that presents itself.

In fact, discontent has been in this country’s DNA since our secession from the British, to the fights for equality and civil rights, even up to the progression of modern-day technology. If we were to have settled where we were at and surrendered to one way of thinking/living, we wouldn’t be where we are today as a nation.

Those protestors that you see throughout mass media have just as much of a right to march on their own accord just as civil rights activists or women suffragists have in the past.

Admittedly I do feel fatigued every time I turn on the TV and see all of these protests and rallies that seemed to have spurred overnight. It can also be frustrating when my family or friends talk my ear off with their own list of complaints with what they see on the news as well. However, there is a part of me that feels a swell of pride whenever I see people from every political faction, color, sex, or age group freely voice their opinions and defend their beliefs.

No matter what side they come from, all types of people are becoming more self-informed and proactive, and a part of me is excited to see these protests unfold because of it. To witness these people being driven by the same restlessness that mobilized distant protestors from before our time gives me more hope than grief.

If we were to block out the stream of mixed beliefs from flowing through our nation and accept whatever ruling order has been dispensed onto us by the government, we as a people would face the consequences of sitting in stagnant waters that will only pollute over time.

We need to stop dragging one party down for poisoning the water or placing the blame on those who are impartial and fluid in their beliefs. Above all, civility must reign during these raging times to avoid further dissension.