We are being held hostage in our own country. Thousands of people are going to be homeless, fighting to put food on the table, and jobless as this shutdown continues. In these next few months, a conclusion much be reached though why are we being threatened by a grown adult to use our taxpayer money if the government does not cooperate? Are we not entitled to a say? We were raised with checks and balances but it seems for our borderline dictator, checks and balances need not apply. And those he says that support him one hundred percent no matter the cost, we’d love to see names and faces. Let us see family members sitting around a dinner table with hardly anything there. Show us a family in a homeless shelter, smiling and proud of what the President is doing, with their Make America Great Again merchandise. If they can even get into a shelter as the shutdown has rendered many unable to process important paperwork such as grants. These families can’t even apply for food stamps because, oh yeah, it’s government run. Could you imagine being informed you cannot get food stamps? Medicaid? WIC? For over 800,000 people, and probably more uncounted for, this is now an ever-present reality.

To the more than 300,000 people who donated to the GoFundMe, we all hope you’re seeing the same numbers we are. Seeing the same negative outcomes for people. That 18 million you donated, would you give it to the government workers? Would you mind if it pays for meals? Or, are you who payed for a wall, still willing to play the devil’s advocate? This wall has torn our very country in two and confined us from the remainder of the world without even being built yet. We are looking past everything else in favor of discussing a wall. What is the everything else? The fact that we are not united and we are not great in any regard at the moment. We are the hostages. And you know what? The ones holding us captive do not have turbans or dark skin. They are not illegal immigrants. They aren’t ISIS members, Neo-Nazis, or even white supremacists. “They” is our President. We are not being held under duress with the threat of being killed or gravely injured. There is no worry that we may never see the light of day from the hole they have hidden us in. No, the threat is not being able to have a home or food on the table. The threat is being jobless but somehow still having a job. It’s working day and night because you don’t particularly have a choice, and knowing you will not receive payment. We have yet seen high ranking government officials going without though. They are receiving their paychecks. They are going on their vacations. This shutdown does nothing to the infamously wealthy, the political narcissists, and the rest of the world. It affects hard working Americans who don’t know if they can make their rent this month. It affects students who are trying to get financial aid and the workers trying to help them get it. It affects the national parks we love so much. The ones one of our presidents fought so hard to protect. It closes down museums and institutes that could be marked as wonders of the world; if they were open. We can’t see how this is” Making America Great Again”, but anyone who still whole-heartedly believes this is right, we ask you to go up to any government workers and thank them. Thank them for working without pay. Thank them for dealing with you as you yell at them because something is not being processed. Thank them when you can afford groceries or make rent. Thank them for making you feel safe at airports. Thank all these people who make your lives easier without you knowing one last time, because you might be seeing a lot less of them if this continues as long as our dear President says it may.

Remember to thank the President for rendering a nation as the Modern Hostage.