EDITOR:

With the election concluded, we need to take this moment to self reflect on how seemingly dehumanizing we as a society have become. The election results we hear are sliced and diced into categories and subcategories, as if people were different species depending upon where they lived or other demographic factors.

In reality, I think we can all agree that we don’t believe that we are the sum total of whatever boxes we check next to our name at the DMV. Many seem to often forget this same principle applies to everyone else as well.

I was born in Marquette in 1992, I later moved to Iron Mountain where I graduated from Iron Mountain High School in 2011. After high school I moved to Milwaukee Wisconsin and graduated from UW-Milwaukee in 2015. I have lived a rural life and an urban life. I have met people of all backgrounds and abilities with various ideals. Despite the variation in location or background, people were generally always the same under it all. We were all just living a human experience with different circumstances.

A lot of our divides are highlighted in elections. One group pitted against another based purely on some demographic factor, but ultimately given the opportunity to sit down and talk to one another, these same people would likely find more in common than what divides them.

Not judging a book by its cover is a cliche that tends to usually be true, but we so often forget this simple truth.

Johnathan Koller

Milwaukee, Wis.