“That was good, wasn’t it?” This was the question that Republican Senator John McCain asked Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, after having one of their heated debates on the floor of the United States Senate. Two men putting aside their staunch differences because of a friendship. Now over the years, I have noticed that more and more of my fellow students have become more politically engaged and opinionated. More than likely a result of our growth, and how we are going to be voting soon. So during the past election season, students have voiced their political opinions to one another. These debates can become heated and can even be aggressive sometimes. But in the end, we all go into the same class and work with each other to ensure that we can get a better education, and have a little bit of fun in the end with our friends.  

You might be asking, what would a bunch of teenagers know about debating about our government and the policies that are brought to the highest levels? To which I would say, if you think about it, a class of high schoolers is very close to the United States Senate itself. We are a collection of males and females, each from different walks of life, with different opinions. We are People who see each other every day, know each other, and are there for the best possible outcome for themselves and their friends. Now maybe the last one isn’t every United States Senator, but hopefully, you see the similarities. We go to the same building to get things done and to do it in a safe and productive manner, which we accomplish by respecting one another and setting aside our differences. Debating is not just something that we students do in our free time; it is something that we do in our U.S. History class to see how over the course of history viewpoints might change. We debate our ideas and then move on to learning about our great country. We completely disagree sometimes with one another, and we do not hide that fact either. In the end, however, we stop debating and start respecting each other.  

I believe that every work environment can and should be like what I have just explained. An area where we can freely have (civil) differences of opinion about the things going on in our country, and in the end go back to respecting one another because of our common ground. That being said, we all are here to work in a safe environment and the fact is that we are all Americans. We all believe in different politics and policies, but we all believe in bettering The United States of America.   I believe that every debate about policy in this country is spoken by someone who truly loves this country and wants nothing but the best for it. I believe that The United States is a place of new beginnings. Meaning that every time we end the good fight, we begin again with a good friendship. We can put everything behind us because we know to end the good fight with the good friends.