Another chapter in American history began Tuesday night with the re-election of President Barack Obama. We hope each of you exercised your privilege to vote, not only for the president, but also for your respective local governments.
Since our country was founded, the United States has been gifted with rights and privileges unlike any other country.
The role of social media in the lives of Americans, specifically college-age voters, has transformed the way we exercise our First Amendment rights. We live in a country that gives us the freedom to share our opinions, thoughts and words; we should never take that for granted. We have the ability to speak freely, but it should be done with liability and care. Freedom comes with responsibility.
However, election night displayed an array of disappointment in the realm of social media and freedom of speech from people whom we, the staff of The Reflector, have looked up to at some point in our lives. We saw hard-fought free speech rights being soiled by words of hatred and blind ignorance. Former teachers, authority figures and even church figures in our lives expressed over-dramatic, malicious expressions about our commander in chief in their online presence through Facebook and Twitter. Some of these comments were not only highly offensive, but also racist and completely false.  To those people, we say with all sincerity, shame on you.
Neither Mitt Romney nor Barack Obama are perfect men. They are flawed, flesh-and-blood humans just like the rest of us. For some reason, people are under the impression one man will single-handedly solve all the problems of our nation. We put ludicrous pressure on the president, and when we don’t see immediate change, it’s the president’s fault.  We neglect to hold Congress and the Supreme Court accountable. We also neglect to hold ourselves accountable.
Perhaps a part of human nature is to want someone to blame. Who wants to admit the problems in our nation are the result of the wastefulness and selfishness of Americans when we can blame the person in charge of our country?
To those who find themselves guilty of offensive, false and flamboyant statements, we have a challenge for you.
Channel the passion behind your outbursts. Channel your passion into action. If you are truly unhappy with the newly-elected government, do something about it rather than annoy and offend others with a blindingly ignorant opinion. Be as informed as you possibly can, and study all sides of any situation. Write to your congressmen. Take as much care and interest in local government as you did with the presidential election. Becoming the most informed, educated version of yourself you can be will eliminate the chance of you ruining your credibility while expressing your opinion.
The president is not responsible for your personal success. Yes, the state of the economy plays a huge role in life after college, but your hard work is going to matter. Attending college or graduate school is never going to be a waste of your time. In life, you will have to wait. You will have to work very hard for what you want. You cannot expect success to be handed to you because you are happy with the current president, and you cannot assume the reason you have trouble finding a job is solely the responsibility of the president. Waiting and working hard are parts of life, and part of growing up is understanding how to roll with the punches instead of blaming others for unsolvable problems.
Now the election is over, spend the next four years learning as much about your president and local government as possible, and respect them as your leaders. Above all, learn as much as you can about as much as you can, and think before you speak.