This will be a bit of a different post...and it will be the only one. I love politics and government and watching it all unfold each election year. I get excited, I learn about each issue and candidate running. I watch the debates and get stressed out in the process but I still love it.

I have never lived in a swing state before. Now I know why some don't enjoy election time. The amount of political garbage that was spewed everywhere was ridiculous. If people don't do their own research, I can see how they'd have the wrong idea about the candidates if they are only learning their info from these commercials. Today I am so thankful that for a couple of years, I can watch tv and not feel like I have to fast forward through the commercials.

I have come to the conclusion that this country is very divided. I read so many negative things today. Regardless of who I voted for and whether they won or not, I can be respectful of my friends who felt victorious because their candidate won and respectful of my friends who were sad because their candidate lost. I heard of a friend being called a racist because she is conservative and votes based off of her religious beliefs. Can someone please tell me why this is a bad thing? We all have a right to our own opinions. We all have a right to free speech and whether we all agree or not it does not make us a racist.

I do not agree with all of my friends on many issues. I find that I am right in the in the middle on many issues. Some issues I am very conservative and others I am liberal. I know not everyone agrees with me and that is okay. I hope that others can feel the same way and just agree to disagree. I get the passion that everyone has towards issues they feel is important. I have that same passion but I do always try and do it respectfully...I may fail at times but I try.

I personally hope that we can all come together in a few days when some of the emotion has died down and work together. This is a great country but there is so much divisiveness and it saddens me.

Like I said, this is my one post on all of this. I felt the need to say it but I am moving on and will be praying for our President. Regardless of who is in office, they need our prayers and support.

Have you ever thought about protesting in front of the Capitol? I have...I wish I had the skills to organize a protest. I saw on the news this morning that George Clooney had been arrested for protesting at the Sudanese Embassy. I think what he is doing to bring awareness to the terrible atrocities taking place in Sudan is wonderful!

In 2006 I believe, I became aware of the genocide taking place in Darfur. I have signed petitions and written letters to our elected officials asking for their support to bring awareness to what is taking place there. In school, like every other student out there, I learned about the Holocaust. This time in history had a great impact on me. The words, "Never Again" had a great impact on me.

So, when I learned about what was happening in Darfur, that there was another genocide happening and very few people knew about it, it hit me at my core. I knew personally, that I could not sit by and hear these stories and sit idly by. There are many causes out there that I feel passionately about and this is one of them.

I hope one day when my kids are older, to show them how to protest peacefully. I believe it's important to help show them how our government works...they are currently learning about the different branches of the government and thankfully they find it fascinating!

Hopefully I can do my part to spread the word...because we should never again sit idly by and let mass atrocities happen anywhere in the world.