It would be easy for me to spend pages upon pages talking about yesterday – the executive orders that went through, the Nazi salute from Musk, etc – but that is not what I want to talk about today. While it’s tempting to delve into the executive orders and other contentious issues, today I want to focus on something more constructive: supporting communities and prioritizing mental health.

In the next four years, many communities are going to come under attack via policy. Trans people have already been told they do not exist in the eyes of the government. If the news is to be believed, many of our Latinx brothers and sisters could soon be having family separations. Chinese students in the US may face increased discrimination and find it difficult to stay to finish their degree. Intergenerational estrangement between family members can leave those who speak up and hold beliefs without a family support network. So, the number of people who are affected by these policies is not insignificant.

Because of this, it is important that we form communities and friendships that can be used to support each other. It is important to fight policy, but we do so in order to help the people that it is affecting. We must not lose sight of the human impact this will have on our friends and family. We need to be there not only to fight against the deportation of immigrants, but also to support the child who no longer has a father. We need to speak out against the Trans-exclusion, but we need to be their to tell our Trans-friends that they matter to us and they are valid and a light in our community. We need to speak up at gatherings so our family knows how it affects us and the next generation can hear all viewpoints, but we need to be there to listen and support our friends who return from a difficult family engagement.

And we need to take care of ourselves. Since I was 18, I have had periods of anxiety in my life that made it difficult to function in day-to-day life. At one point, I was in an unhealthy and abusive relationship. I had a terminally sick parent and a grieving mother, which left it’s on unique stamp on my life. Over the course of my life, I have learned how to manage and cope with anxiety. But even as last as last year, I had crippling anxiety due to a GLP-1 medication I was on. I fought through and overcame that and am in a much better place now. But, I got through all of these rough points in my life because of the love and support of the community around me – my friends, family, and loved ones.

In summary, there used to be these small boxes beside cash registers that said “take a penny, leave a penny.” If you had an extra penny to spare, you gave it so the next person who did not have a penny could use it. I would encourage all of us to apply that philosophy to our lives today with supporting one another. When you need it, take a penny of support from your friends. When you are able, provide a penny of support to those around you. We will get through this together, as a community.