2017 in Review: The Highlights

2017 was a total butt-kicker of a year, but it was also one of many fun experiences, important opportunities, and hard work. 

At Randolph-Macon, I continued to work my way through my junior and senior years. My SGA presidential campaign was a huge feat; even though we lost that election, the excitement from my campaign contributed to one of the highest turnouts in an R-MC SGA election in the College’s history. The aftermath of the election led to my appointment as a Senior Class Senator, where I’ve been able to help make our ideas a reality. I also got to meet Sage the Gemini at Camptown, I’ve continued to make Deans List every semester since Spring 2015, and I’ve learned so many different things along the way in my classes and in my positions as a CAB Event Manager and as a Resident Assistant. I also joined Mu Phi Epsilon in the fall, which is filled with talented musicians and all-around great people. 

This summer, I worked at the Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion for my second season and while the job itself wasn’t the most exciting and came with its downsides, the people I worked with yet again made it an amazing and fun experience that I won’t soon forget. In addition to working with people from across the Commonwealth, I also worked with students from the Philippines, Columbia, Hong Kong, and Poland, so I was able to develop an even larger appreciation for diverse cultures (I hope to travel to these places one day!). The fall brought Halloween Haunt to me for the third year in a row; this is always one of my favorite times of the year. I was super excited to learn that I was placed in Blood on the Bayou, the newest maze in the park that was eventually named the MAZE OF THE YEAR for Haunt 2017! This was easily my favorite year of Haunt ever, and I loved every minute that I was in that hot maze working with my fellow monsters, who made me feel even more welcome in the Haunt family.

There were also many different political events that were highlights of my 2017. My trip to Washington, D.C. to see the 58th Presidential Inauguration was something that everyone should try at least once in their life as it is an amazing experience to watch one presidency end and another begin right before your eyes. I also spent a large amount of my year interning for the 2017 Virginia Republican Ticket from the very beginning in January, and even though we lost in a fashion nobody expected, we learned a lot about our state and country that night and we left everything out on the floor with one of the best run campaigns ever. The end of the year brought some promise as Nick Freitas, who is someone that I have admired since his visit to R-MC, announced his U.S. Senate bid and brought some optimism and liberty to the Republican Party.

These are just the highlights; I could go on about all the ups and downs that happened in 2017. While the news was mostly negative, I tried my best to keep this year as positive as possible. Thanks to everyone that made this year special, and I can’t wait to see y’all around in the New Year! 

In Liberty, 

Jacob Stech

My Condemnation of President Trump

Note: This post is a copy of a Facebook post that I wrote about an hour after Donald Trump's disastrous press conference in which he walked back his scripted Monday response to the domestic terrorist attack in Charlottesville, where one person was killed in a protest and two policemen were killed in a helicopter crash while responding to the protests. 

I just listened to Donald Trump walk back his comments from yesterday and show his true colors. He's now back to saying that both sides are at fault.

I condemn the actions of the KKK. I condemn Nazis. I condemn white supremacists. I condemn racists.

I condemn the president for not condemning these same things.

I'm done with this president. I also apologize to everyone for voting for this president. I can no longer support a president who will not denounce white supremacists for their ugly and disgusting thoughts. I can't support a president who would rather defend Nazis and racists than represent his country by using his common sense and denouncing them. Mr. President, I can assure you that as of now, you will not be getting my vote in 2020.

I apologize to everyone for helping to elect a morally insensitive man to the most powerful position in the world. I apologize to all of my friends for saying "it'll be okay" and "let's give him a chance." Well, I've given him a chance, and it's pretty obvious that things are not okay. My heart hurts for those who feel victimized by the president's actions. I feel bad that I have to tell my kids in the future that I voted for him.

I'm not changing parties, but I do want to change the way that this country thinks. I want to help elect leaders from both parties that want to bring America back from all of the negativity that has happened over the past few months. I'm sick of how negative, dirty, and divisive American political talk has become. I want to bring American politics back to what it used to be about: the issues and what brings us together.

I miss President Barack Obama. I honestly never thought I would say that. I hope we can recover from this. I really do.

Have We Become Numb to Terrorism?

It seems like terrorism happens too often for us to keep up with it anymore. It's actually really sad.

On Monday, May 22nd, after I had arrived home from a busy day at my internship, I got a notification on my phone that really worried me. Now, I can't remember a day within these past few months that a news notification didn't worry the crap out of me, but this one was concerning. Of course, my mind went straight to "Oh no, this is another terrorist attack", but I wanted to tell myself that it wasn't the case. I wanted to believe that ISIS wasn't able to pull off yet another devastating attack that took the lives of innocent people. I wanted to believe that everybody was going to be okay and that maybe the article was a piece of "fake news" or the explosion was actually something else. I should've stuck with my first instinct.

As more information started leaking out, I was saddened to hear that 22 people had died and 59 people had been injured in some way (as of Friday, May 26th). I was relieved to hear that Ariana Grande herself was safe, but then I realized the demographic that her music appeals most to: younger girls. The majority of the victims had been young girls who just wanted to have fun at a concert. For many of them, it was probably their first experience at a concert. Even those young ones who survived the attack without a scratch will probably have nightmares for months after experiencing the chaos that happened that day.

But what surprised me even more was not what happened, but what didn't happen. Usually, after any large world event, good or bad, I would see a lot of activity on my Facebook feed regarding the event. Now, I did see a lot of action on Twitter, but I had to seek out the correct hashtags and keywords to see it. My Facebook friends or the people that I follow on Twitter (not including news accounts) did not seem to care about what had taken place. There was basically utter silence. It was shocking. But then I thought: have we become so used to terrorist attacks and the normal cycle of events that we just don't care anymore? Have we become numb to terrorism?

The media used to spend a lot of time on these events when they first began to happen. When the Virginia Tech massacre happened, it was the top story for weeks on end. But now, especially within the past year or so, the coverage of these events disappears within the next day or so, even in instances where massive attacks occur. It seems like the media, along with the people, have gotten used to the cycle so much that they feel that they don't need to cover it as much anymore.

Here's that inevitable series of events that I'm talking about. Obviously it starts with the event itself occurring and it is followed with the fast leaking of new information, including the number of victims and the finding of who committed the act of violence. Then we find out that the perpetrator had a history of radicalization. Then the debates start about whether to have stricter gun laws or whether to limit Syrian refugee immigration to the country or whether the United States should declare war on the Islamic State, or ISIS.

I TOTALLY understand why people get sick and tired of it all, as it just adds to the problems of partisanship and lack of unity that I have stressed about before. But we cannot just sit here and let it happen again. And again. And again.

If we just sit here and let the cycle continue, it gives off an impression to the terrorists that we tolerate the events and that we are totally okay with letting more attacks happen, even though that is not necessarily the case. If we ignore the events happening around us, we are closing ourselves in and not letting ourselves be educated on what is happening around the world so that we can be prepared for anything. By doing nothing, we let the terrorists win, and we give them permission to do it again.

If we want to stop living in this cycle, we need to bring more attention to what happened so that more people know what is going on. We also need to educate people about the religion of Islam and tell people how it isn't the entire religion that allows for these types of events to happen, but it is only a small fraction of followers that twist the words of their scripture to justify killing children and other innocent people. We also need to work to agree on what the main problem is and how we can find a set solution to the problem. If the proposed solution doesn't work, then we reevaluate.

Another point I want to make is something that Former President Barack Obama hit on in a speech in Berlin on Thursday. He made the point that there are people "who would do great harm to others just because they are different." He also hopes that as an ex-president, he will have more time to help young people become better leaders "so that we can marginalize those who would try to divide us" through acts such as these. This is a big reason why I wanted to write this post. I want people to read this and hope that they will speak out against injustices and become inspired to try and fix the bonds that divide us as a nation. We live in such a partisan time right now that it might seem like this is impossible, but it really isn't; we will never know unless we try.

I can get very political about the issue and talk about any of the debates above, or how the $110 billion arms deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia was a bad idea and how a lot of these weapons will go to terrorist organizations to commit more terrorist acts. I can also talk about how the mainstream media wrongly talks about Islam as being a horrible religion that allows these acts to happen, but I can save these issues for another post if need be. This post is just meant to address how and why we need to be more aware of the events, and I do not want to get into the policy bits in any way at the moment.

When I initially thought about writing this post, I wanted to shape it around the classic John Lennon song, Imagine. I wanted to talk about imagining a world where one's religion, country of origin, or possessions do not create hate, but I've gotten to the point where imagining a world where people are living life in peace is impossible. Now I am a dreamer, and I know I'm not the only one, and I wish I could hope someday that others would want to join me in wanting to live as one, but we've lived too long in a world with partisanship and hate and racial injustice for that to ever become a true reality. But we can still work towards a goal like that, as every little act of kindness can get us closer to a world like the one I described.

The question still needs to be asked: are we too numb to care about terrorism anymore, or can we get together and figure out ways to prevent these acts and the heartbreak that usually follows? I know that we will never be able to end terrorism completely as it has been a thing since the beginning of time, but being able to prevent more attacks from happening would definitely be an accomplishment. At this point, all we can do as citizens is educate ourselves and others. We need to care about what is going on so that we can accurately judge those in Washington who will eventually make the hard policy decisions.

Keep educating yourself and others. Keep caring. Keep our representatives in check. The world can be a better place if we do these things and more. Let me know if I need to elaborate on any points or if anything is confusing, as I know terrorism is a complicated issue.

In Liberty,
Jacob Stech '18

Kiss a Democrat, Hug a Republican (A Call For Unity NOW!)

I know everyone is getting tired of the political posts on their timelines, but this one is really important. Like, REALLY important.

Something is up. And it's bad.

POTUS #44 Barack Obama has ended his term and POTUS #45 Donald Trump has been sworn in, but something is blocking me (a right-leaning Libertarian who supported Trump) from being totally happy about it.

It's the fact that the country is so divided right now.

I completely get it. President Donald Trump said some nasty things during the campaign that turned a lot of people off. In fact, I stopped supporting him for a brief period after that haunting Access Hollywood video came out. Even though I had supported him since the end of May 2016 after he clinched the nomination, even that turned me off from him for a while. But then I thought about it a couple weeks after that video and decided to cast my vote based off of policy and not personality.

I completely understand why people are mad about Hillary winning the popular vote but not the presidency. People are angry that we won't have a female president for four years, and while I didn't support her candidacy, I myself want to see a woman in the White House someday.

But enough about electoral politics, because that's not why I decided to write this article.

I decided to write this article because I've noticed something really bad. It's that the political tension in the air has reached an all-new level. Though I've already explained above a little bit of why that is, now I want to offer the biggest olive branch ever.

We, as Americans, need to unify, and we need to do so NOW. 

Let me explain a little why I feel this way and what I mean.

So I had the opportunity to attend the 58th Presidential Inauguration and it was easily one of the best days of my life, but when I was there, there was an uneasy feeling. My dad and I were in the silver ticket area, which was not too close but not too far. There was a great view of the stage and a screen that showed exactly what the viewers at home were watching. About an hour before the swearing-in ceremony began, the past presidents, first ladies, and other dignitaries were coming in. When former first lady Hillary Clinton appeared on the screen, things got ugly. Everybody around us started jeering and booing her into oblivion. I'm not sure if those at home could hear it, but it was very loud around us. It became obvious that the stereotypical Trump supporters were not ready to let go of the fact that she lost when they started chanting "Lock her up, lock her up..." Then the booing got worse as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi showed up and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke; it got so bad that I couldn't hear half of what he was talking about over the insults and boos.

Let me make it clear that I may not agree with some of the politics of Clinton and Pelosi and Schumer, but I at least respect them as people. I respect all peaceful Democrats and Republicans alike as people, even if I don't agree with their political views.

The beginning of a new administration is kind of like the beginning of a new year: it is a perfect time for the country to get a fresh start and for people to promise to follow new political habits. I want to start this administration by promising to listen to the other side and root for them when they do things that I agree with, like when they enforce their free speech rights at the Women's March on Washington. I respect those who took part in that historic march, and I want people to continue to voice their opinions whether I agree with them or not.

Unification means we need to tolerate one another and not attack them when they voice an opinion that is against yours. It doesn't mean we all have to share the same views; it's obvious that will NEVER happen.

Unification means we need to put electoral politics aside and focus on helping the new administration govern. Let's end the 'Lock Her Up' talk and focus on getting along with each other and moving an agenda forward that the American people can agree on.

Unification means we need to stop the violence. Stop breaking things. Stop looting Starbucks and breaking their windows. Stop punching people as they are being interviewed on live television, even if they share very radical views.

Unification means when people are trying to scream words of dissent at you in order to shut you up, it means you keep talking. Try to get them to listen to you. If you are the dissenter, listen to them. It's surprising how much you will actually agree with each other if you start listening and getting along.

Unification means knowing that we are all in this together. Whatever happens these next four years and beyond, we are ONE country. ONE nation under God.

Former President Barack Obama said in a speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004 that "there is not a liberal America and a conservative America, there is the United States of America."

President Donald Trump said in his inaugural speech that "when America is united, America is totally unstoppable."

Now, I know I can't ever achieve world peace. I will never be able to get everyone in the world to agree with each other and tolerate each other, but I want to get the ball rolling for the generations ahead. Let's show that we are not the generation of political divisiveness and that we are the generation of toleration. Let's get started. As Stephen Colbert famously said during his election night coverage, don't be afraid to kiss a Democrat or hug a Republican. Let's put the hate behind us and let's all be kind to each other.

If I think of other ways we can unite, I will edit this article as need be. I will also be open to political debate, as it allows me to start on my new resolution for the new administration as explained above.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and as always, be a positive force.

In Liberty,
Jacob Stech