Your politics don't define you

I've said it before, but I feel that it needs saying again - I am once again saddened by the amount of absolute hate that I see coming from people I know via social media. Just because someone has a different opinion that you does not make them wrong. Just because you believe something with your whole heart does not make you right. Wishing actual physical bodily harm on someone for having a different opinion than you is the exact same thing that you claim to be against, and the hypocrisy is making my head hurt. You can't say that you love America for its freedoms in one breath, and then turn around and say that we should ship people who have a different opinion than you off to some other country and let them see what it's like to be treated badly, to be beaten, to be a second-class citizen - that's not how it works.

My social media accounts likely just need a cleansing, but I have tried so hard to be kind to people of all walks of life - and truth be told, some of these people seem like really genuinely decent human beings - when they're not spewing hypocritical commentary. And the thing is, I know that they are actually decent human beings - and they are just like me in so many regards. They want to have a good day, be surrounded by people who make their lives better, and to know that the world will be a better place for the next generation. I don't wish a single ounce of ill will on anyone who I see strutting around social media acting tough - I just with they would realize that the things they are saying completely contradict themselves.

You can't fight hate with hate - it doesn't work that way. You just breed more and more hate, until the hate is at a dangerous level. I'm far from saying that a few of us nobodies from rural Pennsylvania can change the world and stop war, but I am fully convinced that maybe - just maybe - if we stopped acting like such know-it-alls, and really just listened to someone else's viewpoint and really understood why they felt that way, the world really would be a better place. Just because someone may label themselves as a liberal, or a conservative doesn't really mean anything about them. If I label myself as one or the other, far too many conclusions are jumped to about me - and I'd frankly rather not associate myself with either side.

Stop wishing ill will on others. Stop hating each other because of their stance on whether they think the President is doing a good job, or whether they think people should be able to afford to go to college, or whether they think there should be better background checks before people can buy guns. Wishing that someone would get killed, raped, or in any other way hurt because of how they feel about a political issue(yes - I have literally heard and seen people say these things) is the most mind-numbing thing I have ever heard.

You're better than this. I know you are. Please prove to me that you're really better than this.