November 3, 2020: Election Day. On this day, U.S. citizens cast their ballots to elect the next president. This election was one of the most critical elections in the history of the United States, and thus had the highest turnout in over a century. Tensions were high, and people were stressed. People who are normally bystanders vocalized their opinion and encouraged others to vote. Social media posts were shared and re-posted to inform followers about the presidential candidates and updates on the election. Businesses boarded up their windows and doors in preparation for the post-election riots. People were glued to the news, anxious and worried about who the president-elect would be. Everyone had a different prediction as to who would win since the votes for each candidate were close. On the morning of November 8th, people awoke to the news that Biden had gotten over 270 electoral votes and is the new president-elect.

After the extremely stressful election, people flooded the streets of cities across the country. Whether in celebration or protest, people gathered together holding signs, honking horns, and chanting. The pandemic was the least of their worries. People failed to abide by the COVID-19 guidelines, as they were unmasked and did not practice social distancing. Protests became violent, as conflict arose across our country.

Other countries had an almost immediate response to the victory of president-elect Biden. World leaders had congratulated him on his triumph. These leaders with vastly diverse views and priorities expressed their enthusiasm to work with him. Even President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria extended his hand to Biden encouraging him to “deploy his vast experience in tackling the negative consequences of nationalist politics on world affairs … and to introduce greater engagement with Africa on the basis of reciprocal respect and shared interests.”

However, U.S. rivals have chosen to take a different route. The official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, People’s Daily China, taunted Trump in his defeat. They retweeted Trump’s tweet that said that he had won the election and commented “HaHa” with a laughing face emoji.

This was definitely a stressful election, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it was only negative. By looking for the positive side of the election, or possibly just taking a break from politics, we can help each other out and get through this together.