Stand by and watch as your people are torn in two.

These words begin their dreadful echo through the minds of every American child the moment we first learn about political parties.

After 18 years of waiting, citizens line up at the polls. All our life we have been told to decide what we believe.

We had so many years to form our opinion, but now we are asked to throw it all away and follow the opinions of someone else.

As we turn from youth to adult, politics become the river flowing through the valley that stands between our people.

Trained to believe this polarization, we ignorantly allow it to take place.

Our subconscious overpowers our better reasoning as we sacrifice what we stand for to the beliefs of a party, but we don’t have to let this happen.

Afraid to defy the “truth” we have always been told, we allow ourselves to be divided, but this can be prevented if we search for the common ground rather than what will suit a singular faction.

In George Washington’s farewell address, he warned us about dangerous political polarization which “kindles the animosity of one part against another” and leads to the “ruins of public liberty.”

We have strayed so far from this understanding; division is not freedom but the beginning to losing our liberty.

As the youth of today, we must break these walls between us.

The diversity of our ideas is essential, but our downfall occurs when we are so stubborn in our ideas that no resolution can be found.

Understand that each predicament does not have to be treated the same way, but each should approached by dropping our bias before seeking a solution.

Choose to take a stand for your beliefs, not to settle for a side.

Spread the mentality that we are not confined to a certain platform, but can make a decision that does not serve a singular group.

Understand. Choose. Spread.

This is how we will find our common ground.