Scenes from the Women's March 2017 (NYC)

Like the majority of America, I was disheartened, disappointed, and felt rejected when Donald Trump was elected. As a woman, as a person of color, as a child of immigrants, as someone who works in the media, as a human being, it cut me to the core to see a man so degenerate not only beat an overqualified woman to win the highest office in America (possibly the world), but also proclaim disturbing vulgarity that literally puts people in fear. That a man prideful of his character is the same man the KKK calls worthy. A man who denies truth and abuses power and is not man enough to take on criticism would be deemed worthy as the leader of the free world. Regardless of politics and policies, we must all agree that Donald Trump is undeserving of the Presidency.

So, as I stopped by at the Women's March in NYC the day after the Inauguration, all those feelings remained, but one feeling rose out from the ashes. That is the oh-so lucrative and powerful hope. As Former President Obama famously said:

Hope is not blind optimism. It's not ignoring the enormity of the task ahead or the roadblocks that stand in our path. It's not sitting on the sidelines or shirking from a fight. Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it. Hope is the belief that destiny will not be written for us, but by us, by the men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is, who have the courage to remake the world as it should be.

Donald Trump got one thing right, he brought us together. Together against him, his administration, and his hateful rhetoric. I have never seen so many people all in one place proclaiming love, unity, peace, and equality. As I looked out into the masses, as I marched with them, as I looked up and saw the countless signs, I saw hope. Because I saw our future, and the future is beautiful. We just have an ugly roadblock.