I’m Canadian, but I was glued to the TV last Tuesday when Barack Obama became the first African-American president of the United States. Obama’s win was a step in the right direction, but for the step America has taken forward; two steps have been taken back. The passing of proposition eight, amending the constitution in California to again restrict same-sex couples from marrying saddened me.

I’m young. Compared to the people I look up to, I’m pretty young, but compared to the world and its history; I am but a speck on the screen. Maybe my youth is the reason I can’t understand why anyone could ever take away rights from another human being, or why anyone would want to deny love.

My lack of naïveté and utter lack of experience do not make me able to support hatred and bigotry, nor can I understand the discrimination that occurs everyday in a country that is supposed to give everyone a chance.

Arkansas’ decision to stop same-sex couples from adopting children angered me further. There are so many children that need love all over the world, and preventing a capable and loving parent from raising a child just because of their sexual orientation is an irresponsible decision.

It’s sad to know that despite the changes that have occurred, and that what happened last Tuesday couldn’t have happened any other time but now, so much is yet to be done. We are slowly wrecking our world. Not just the planet, but also each other.

In my heart, I know that someday America, and the world will get there, the there where everyone is accepted and recognized as humans first. Even though we all know it, we so easily forget that essentially, we are all the same. It kills me to think that we will never progress to a state where differences are truly accepted.

I am young, but I know that some things transcend age, race, or gender. The need for humans to be accepted by others, the need to love and be loved, and the hope for change that survives through it all.