In the name of love — Tricia Wong

Trump and his love for America?

Words: Tricia

Photos: Jaegen (@jaegentan)

In light of Valentine's Day, thought I might do a post on love. Trump and Love. Two words that seem so ironic when put together.

Love; a feeling we often ponder about just before we sleep, when we are alone, when we are most vulnerable. We think about what it means to receive love, to love and to be in love. We often look out for signs, actions, words or anything to prove the existence of love.

With the recent events in the United States, we question the ability of the new President and even his mental state. People started riots, protests, demonstrations, anything they can do in retaliation against his policies.

Yet one may argue that Trump has kept all his promises so far - that different people have different ways of protecting what they love. And in this case, Trump has decided that banning humans based on their religion is an act of protecting the country and its people.

Trump attempted to justify his Muslim ban by stating that this is his way of protecting America from terrorism. However by doing so, he really is no different from them. Terrorists use religion as an excuse to perpetuate hate, to manipulate and spread fear into the hearts of people. We see children, brainwashed by their parents into thinking that suicide bombing is an act of honour to god. We see innocent people dying, as if starvation and poverty weren't enough. Yet Trump's Muslin ban makes him no different from them, using religion to garner hate and causing destruction in order to achieve what he thinks is right. As a result of his policies, thousands of legitimate Muslim-Americans are now afraid to leave their homes each day.

But really, who are we to blame? There were just too many floaters during the Presidential elections, too many who were "ok" with either being President, too many that wanted to "see how things go" with either President, too many who were simply gender bias. Now, the whole American population will just have to live with the decision they made collectively as a nation for 4 years. Please Singapore, we can all learn from this. We can learn to make a stand, to believe in what we think is right and to make a decision based on the bigger picture. Every vote counts, no matter how small you might feel.

Happy Valentine's Day! xx