My World, Your World, Our World

I'm watching my world fall apart.

Since 5 pm this evening I've been watching my world fall apart. This morning I woke up under the impression that my country would be under the watchful eye of a woman who knows what do in the international community. Tonight I am going to bed knowing that for the next four years my country will be under the watchful eyes of a man who is unpredictable at best.

I'm watching my world fall apart.

I've watched myself change over the last couple of years. Somehow along the way I went from a young woman who didn't support the LGBTQ community, who had unintended racist feelings to someone who cares very deeply about the safety and security of every minority. Tonight I've heard friends express fear because in a Trump Presidency they don't know if their rights will be protected. They don't know if their parents will be deported. They don't know if they will be able to freely practice their religion.

I'm watching my world fall apart.

I was talking with a friend the other day about stereotypes I realized then how fundamentally my viewpoint has changed. I told her "Stereotypes get me in trouble more often than not and, like, I'm really trying to stop thinking in stereotypes because I REALLY don't want to be racist or homophobic or think bad thoughts towards people don't look or act just like me because that's the part of the world I legitimately hate. So I'm trying to change and I refuse to use stereotypes." and I have to believe that there are so many more just like me. I have to believe that America at it's core is not the misogynistic, racist nation that seems to have showed up to vote today. And even if we are that nation, then I truly hope and believe that we can change. because otherwise,

I'm watching my world fall apart.

But also tonight I've watched my friends band together, all of them, regardless of religions, of race, of sexual orientation, of sex. I've watched them all come together to share in each other's pain. To give each other hope. To allow ourselves to purge and to fall apart, but then to pick ourselves right back up to begin to talk about what changes we will make.

We're building the world we want.

I was speaking with a friend who asked me if I still wanted to work for the government after the election results. My response was "Cognitive dissonance be darned. I have to serve the country I believe in, not the president I don't believe in. If all the best, or even mediocre, people step down and don't step up then American will lose even more than we already have." I know I'm not alone in this viewpoint.

We're building the world we want.

Although tonight was absolutely devastating, and I literally watched my world crumble in front of me, I have to believe that we are like the phoenix. I have to believe that we will rise, that those of us who desire to be heard, that we will begin to build the nation we want to see. I have to believe that the incredible people I go to school, church and work with will rise above all of this and be the leaders and voters we want to see.

I'm building the world I want.
You're building the world you want.
And together we will build the world we want.

Vote Your (Well Informed) Conscience

What I am about to write is not intended to encourage you to vote for any one candidate, but I do believe that we need to take a fair, insomuch as I can make it without bias kicking in, look at some of the things that are going on this election cycle. Let's start with the large elephant the RNC has placed in the room.

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Republican

Donald J. Trump

Ever since Trump announced his candidacy last year I have watched in growing shock, amazement and horror. I cannot believe how far he has made it in this election cycle! There are so many things about him that make him a reprehensible person, let alone a candidate for the highest office in the land.

As a political science student I like to look at patterns and case studies of different elections, I prefer other countries, but this election cycle is so horrendous I've started to pretend it is another country and not my own. I was thinking about the fact that Political Science is sort of a reactionary science. We take a look at historical data, analyze it and then tell you what we can predict based on that data set. So I truly wonder if some political scientist decided to step into the experiment arena and tricked Trump into running "just to see what will happen." But that's beside the point.

Trump is a reprehensible human being. He has been from the very beginning. I mean I guess we'll start with the thing that is on the forefront of everyone's minds: The Trump Tapes. It is unfortunate that these came to light, but what is even more horrifying is that they actually exist. Due to the fact that I listen to several different political podcasts I have heard censored versions of the transcripts. They weren't censored enough. It is horrifying to me that any man could ever say such awful things about a woman, any woman, even if he never did them. They are simply horrible. I cannot believe that every man talks like this, that it is "locker room banter." I have grown up surrounded by men all of my life. My father, brothers, friends, neighbors. Never once have I heard such vulgar and awful references to women. He calls it "locker room banter," that's an insult to locker rooms across the country. Real men respect women, they don't talk about them like objects, and they always ask for consent. What is so awful about these tapes is that what he is describing, if he actually did it, is not locker room banter, but sexual assault. I work at a university, I've sat through the Sexual Harassment Prevention training. Literally EVERYTHING Trump says is sexual harassment in one way or another.

But why is it that the Trump tapes are the straw that broke the American backs? He has been talking like this since the very beginning of the election. Oh not in such vulgar terms, but let's walk back to when Trump wanted to ban an entire religion from entering this country. How those who practice Islam fear that if Trump is elected even if they are here legally they will be forced to leave. Why is it that comments about women in a sexual context are more insulting than every racist, bigoted comment that has ever left his mouth? These issues should not be ranked. We should care about those who are the subject of racism as much as we care about how he treats women.

None of this even remotely talks about his finances or his compulsive lying. His childish behavior both on the debate floor and on twitter. His apparent disregard for National Security and his lack of reservation and willingness to use nuclear weapons.

So finances. One of the reasons many people like Trump is because he is a businessman and he is going to try to fix the national debt. People. Why would you ever trust a man who has filed for business bankruptcy at least four times. A fifth came this week when one of his casinos shut down over the weekend. In addition this is the man who says he did a good job because he avoided corporate finances for at least 15 years. And this is the man we want running our country? I can handle my finances better, and I'm a 20-year-old college student.

His compulsive lying gives me pause as well. Many have said that Trump is the better option because Hillary is a liar. Yeah, Hillary has lied as well, but can we just look at the debate from Sunday night? In that debate alone I'm pretty sure Trump lied 75% of the time. He lied about his ties to Russia, he lied about saying the things on the tapes. In the first debate he lied about releasing his tax returns. Basically when Trump opens his mouth you can assume that over half the time, what's about to come out is a flat out lie. And while we're on the subject of Russia: Trump claims he doesn't have any ties over there economically which is patently false. He may not have any loans, but he does have monetary ties. And also, he and Putin are friends. That should make you worry. Trump has continued to hold up Putin as an example of a strong leader and has even talked about Kim Jong Un, the dictator of North Korea, as another strong leader. I don't know about you, but a president who emulates Un and Putin would scare me into my grave. That's not to mention the fact that early on in his candidacy there was a comparison of Trump quotes to Hitler quotes and they were eerily similar. DOES THIS WORRY NO ONE ELSE?????????????

As to his childish behavior. Only a two year old repeats "Wrong" over and over again when someone disagrees with him. Only a two year old, or extremely immature 70-year-old would continue to tweet at 3 am about a former beauty queen he did say rude things about. Only a child would create and then fat shame a computer hacker he just made up. Sometimes Trump can't even form coherent sentences, let alone respond maturely to facts that he doesn't like.

As for national security. The man has threatened to make Mexico, someone we're on rather friendly terms with, pay for a wall that wouldn't help and would only serve to make relations worse. In addition Foreign Affairs reported a couple weeks ago that making Trump president is among ISIS's top priorities. Does that scare you? Cuz if it doesn't it definitely should. ISIS, the bloodiest and most evil terrorist group we have seen in a long while, wants Trump to be president.

As for the rest of the world, most people are not about to work with Trump. Britain already tried to ban him from their country. Now, in case you didn't know, the President of the United States is actually the highest ranking foreign policy official in this country. 75% of the president's job is foreign policy and national security, and there aren't many checks and balances on that part of things. The president pretty much has carte blanche, unless he puts troops on the ground, in which case he has 90 days before he needs congressional approval, and a lot of damage can be done in 90 days. So really what we should be doing is electing president's based on Foreign Policy. Congress will decide domestic policy, but the president, the president decides foreign policy, and he or she has to interface with countries and leaders worldwide, which means we really need someone who isn't going to offend another country with a tweet at 3 am. We need someone who can be respected, or if not that, at least won't royally mess up our relationship across the world. Trump would blow relationships within 2 minutes of attaining office. He doesn't know the meaning of the word discretion or classified. We're worried about some emails of Hillary's from a couple of years ago? A Trump in office could spell much worse disaster.

As for nuclear weapons, Trump has shown an utter disregard for any reservations we as a country have in using nuclear weapons. We don't war game with nuclear weapons for a reason. They are literally our last choice. We would do ANYTHING before resorting to nuclear annihilation. Trump doesn't share those same reservations.

I don't know about you, but after all that , and this is just a short summary, a Trump presidency scares me half to death. I have nightmares about it. It makes me cringe every time I see his name in my twitter feed. I literally gag every time he tweets. A Trump presidency is simply unacceptable, and if you can't see that after all of this, I simply don't know how to convince you.

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3rd Party

Quick chat about the third party candidates.

Jill Stein-Green Party

The woman is legitimately crazy. Why we'd put her in charge of anything I'll never know. Although some of her memes have been wonderful.

Gary Johnson-Libertarian

While Johnson is definitely the one who stands the best chance against the two major party candidates, there are some things about him that worry me. For one, when asked to name four world leaders, he couldn't name even one. How can you lead foreign policy if you don't know the players and or where the countries are? Also he tries to play off his lack of knowledge in the foreign arena as a good thing. But the first 100 days of presidency are critical, and you cannot be playing catch up on who's who during that 100 days. You have to know the players, you cannot afford to be ignorant.

Evan McMullin

While I truly believe in a lot of what McMullin has to say, and he definitely is the least crazy, and one of the most qualified, I think that there are problems with his campaign, the first being that he jumped into this election so late and therefore can't get on as many ballots as he needs to. I have been surprised at how well his message is getting out there, but I do live in Utah, so that may be it. I think that McMullin could make a great president, he definitely has the foreign expertise to not blow things up internationally. However, the plan to get him elected literally hinges on a technicality, and I don't know how I feel about that.

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Democrats

Hillary R Clinton

Let me start out this segment by saying, I don't actually like Hillary. In fact, prior to the first debate I didn't want to vote for her, I'm still not sure I do, but I will tell you one thing. I worry less about her being president than a lot of the other candidates.

The thing about Hillary is that she has the expertise and the background to make sure that our international relationships don't fall apart. Do I want her to be president? Not particularly. Has she lied? Yes, she has. But I think that it is fair to say that her lies were not as egregious as Trump's are right now. Yes there have been things in her political career that give me pause. But I truly believe that in a world that is so unstable, we need someone with experience and steady hand. Since I have only one feasible choice for that, I have to believe that Clinton will only remain in place for four years and then I can handle someone new.

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So now what?

Vote your conscience. It doesn't matter what I've said here. It really doesn't. You vote your conscience. If you can sleep at night after casting your vote, you've done well.

If you aren't currently registered to vote, GO. NOW.  This election could be one of the most important in recent memory, there is NO real excuse not to vote.

And then be sure to keep foreign policy in mind. The president doesn't control domestic policy as Trump seems to think. We here in America have a system of checks and balances called Congress, but in matters of Foreign Policy; well, friends, that's all on the president and the man or woman he or she appoints as Secretary of State.

So no matter who you are, if you are of voting age, it is your duty and responsibility to vote this election season. Because regardless of what you do that night, after election night we all have to live with the consequences of that vote. And I, for one, would like to live in a guilty-conscience free environment.

Stop clowning around

"Stop clowning around." There was a time in my life where that was a funny statement. Where it meant that the class clown was goofing off and now we needed to focus on the course work. Now it means something entirely different. Now it means that creepy clowns are attempting to lure children into the forest. That students are paying clowns to murder teachers. Now it means that there is a very real danger to my family.

Today I was happily scrolling through Facebook for work and noticed a video a friend and neighbor had shared from KSL news. At first I scrolled right past it thinking it was nothing. And then I read the caption. It was something about Fairfield Junior High being vandalized by clowns. and I froze. I couldn't think for a couple minutes.

My junior high, the one my youngest brother still attends, was vandalized. And they weren't inane statements. They were things like "We'll kill all the children on Halloween" and "Kill the Falcons". There were other things too, like "Ha ha" etc. but this is quite shocking.

For a while this has been something in my periphery, something I knew was going on nationwide, but not something I felt was actually real. And then it was in my own backyard. It was endangering my siblings, my family.

It has gone too far.

I don't know who decided to take a clown, something that is already frightening and not funny or cute to so many people, and use it as the vehicle and guise for committing petty, and often terrifying crimes. I don't know who they are, and I don't know who is perpetuating this crime spree nationwide. I could actually probably care less. What I do care about is that this continues to be as big a concern as it is. That more and more people are committing crimes at clowns.

All I'm saying is that this can be as scary as terrorism at home. In fact I think it is more scary. It's not something we can say is a problem abroad. Terrorism we can and often do, relegate to "their problem". We shouldn't, but we do. However, these clowns we cannot relegate to "their problem". It is our problem, our concern and we have to fix it. We have to do something about it, because if we don't no one will. People around us are being hurt, they are being threatened. And we need to be the ones to fix it.

An Open Letter to All Human Beings

Dear Human Beings,

Hi, my name is Brigitte Hugh and I am a 20 year old college student. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am an International Relations student at my university. I am straight, I am Caucasian, I am young. I hope that none of that will stop you from reading this letter. Because while I am all of these things, I am also a human being.

I've watched as several deadly attacks have taken place in the last couple of weeks. Here in the United States it feels as though the flag has been at half staff more than it's been at full staff for a very long time. It's been lowered for a whole host of incidents influenced by many different ideologies.

The motivating factor behind almost all of these attacks in the past year and half has been hatred. Bombings and stabbings influenced by the extremist agendas of ISIL. Shootings influenced by an extreme hatred of the police forces. More shootings influenced by those who feel that theirs is the only race that should be living, or by those who have a fear of anything that does not seem "natural" to them. There was a stabbing just yesterday that was perpetuated by a man who felt the society should be cleansed of those with disabilities. To round out our group of deadly attacks we have a truck that plowed into a group of people, killing men, women, and children indiscriminately.

To all these things I want to cry out to the whole world WHY CAN'T WE JUST LOVE EACH OTHER?!?

To you, the racist I say: we are all on this earth together, learn to love your neighbor of another skin color. We are all the same, some of us just got a little more pigment in their skin. Get over it.

To you, the person who despises Muslims as a whole I say: The religion is one of peace. Islam, the word itself, means Peace. Love those who are around you, Muslims are some of the nicest and most genuine people you will ever meet. They don't judge us because Hitler was also a white individual, don't judge them because of the people who have chosen to twist their religion. And let's be honest with ourselves for a moment, every religion throughout history has a had an extremist wing that has done things the rest of the people practicing that religion would never condone. E.G. the Klu Klux Klan and Christians.

To you, the individual who feels that persons with disabilities are a weight upon society I say: Have you ever met an individual who struggles with some sort of disability? Those with Autism are usually the smartest people in the room. Those with Down's Syndrome are usually the sweetest, most hilarious, and most incredible individuals in the room. Those who struggle with physical disabilities are usually the strongest. Those who struggle with unnamed, but very real, disabilities are usually the most loving. Disability doesn't mean that they are useless or a drag on our resources, it just means they are stronger than those of us who will never have to struggle with those problems in our lifetime. I have never struggled with disability in my life. But I have some people very close to me who do, and can I just tell you right now, they are my inspiration, they are my strength. My uncle struggles with several disabilities of both the mental and physical kind and the sweetest and most strengthening words I have ever heard came from his mouth. They were: "Brigitte?" "Yes" "I love you, Brigitte" Don't you tell me that the persons with disabilities don't contribute to society, because you are unequivocally wrong. They are the reason many of us find the strength to change the world. They are the reason we wake up in the mornings and pick up the weight of the world. And to be really honest, persons with disabilities also change the world everyday. The inventor of Pokemon had Autism. Steven Hawking struggles with disabilities. Albert Einstein is suspected to have had Asperger's, a form of Autism.

To you, the individual who fears something they think is unnatural (*cough* homophobes *cough*) I say: You live your life, let them live theirs. Honestly just because you feel that to be a member of the LGBTQ community is wrong doesn't mean you get to treat those individuals any differently than you would treat me, a straight, white girl. I know people who find themselves in the LGBTQ community every day and they are some of the most loving and lovable people of my acquaintance. They are also the most accepting and we could all learn a lesson from them. You may not approve of their lifestyle, but that does not mean that you get to treat them as less than a person, or bully them. You treat them as you would treat your own self, you love them.

To you, who think the police are out to get all those of a certain race I say: You realize that these are the men and women who take their lives into their hands every single day? They walk into work not knowing if they will walk into their homes at the end of the day. And to be quite honest they are not perfect. No human is.

To you, the human reading this post, I say: Can we try a little harder to be a little better? Can we try a little harder to be a little bit more loving? When did life turn upside down and all of the sudden everyone who is not exactly like me is a threat to my very existence?

I tell you, life is not meant to be an endless stream of CNN notifications letting me know that somewhere else in the world 15 more people have died.

That is not how it is supposed to be, that is not how decent human beings treat one another.

There is so much hatred in the world right now, can we please try to spread some love? If we can't spread love, can we at least spread tolerance?

This globe we live on doesn't need more death. It doesn't need more violence. It doesn't need more anger. This globe we live on needs more life. It needs more love. It needs more kindness.

I know this letter won't reach very many people, but I do hope that those it reaches will open their minds and their hearts. That they will take the opportunity to be kind to at least one more person they pass along their way. If even one person makes a change to the way they are living, we've saved one more life, we've spread a little kindness and we've shared a little love.

Human Lives Matter.

Your life matters no matter who you are, what you believe, how you feel towards men or women, what your struggle is, what your job is, what religion you practice, what color skin you were born with. You Matter. You matter to me, and to your family. You matter to your neighbors, coworkers and friends. You Matter. Your life matters. Your determination matters. Your love matters. Your kindness matters. YOU MATTER.

So spread a little love. Spread a little kindness.

Hopefully you and I together can change our little corners of the world.

All my love,

Brigitte Hugh
A fellow human being