The election is less than a week away, and this unsettling political season is going to be over.

Finally.

Now the political ads full of hate can be replaced by Christmas ads full of cheer because it’s the best time of the year. (And who doesn’t celebrate a holiday an entire two months beforehand?)

Unfortunately, even though the campaign season will be over, we can’t ignore all of the pain and anger that it has brought to the forefront of our nation and just skip happily into Thanksgiving.

At this point, it doesn’t really matter who wins the election because on Nov. 8, a lot of people will be angry, either way.

We can’t just ignore that.

As a nation, we have to admit that we don’t get along, and we can’t play nice. If we can’t handle agreeing on the color of Starbucks cups during the holiday season, how do we expect to work together on more serious issues like immigration.

That’s where compromise needs to make an appearance. Those on the left can’t expect to assume control and make those on the right abide by whatever they say, and vice versa. If we try to go on like that, half of the nation will constantly be upset.

That’s no way to operate a country. That’s no way to function as humanity.

It’s often said that you can love someone without agreeing with their opinions, which is true. But I wish we showed that more often.

Too many times, I hear people say they love the people that disagree with them and turn around and yell at those same people on the internet when their opinions differ. Nasty comments don’t look very loving.

Whether we agree with it or not, we have to accept the fact that there is a lot of unrest in the U.S., on both political sides, and those feelings will not go away after the election.

We have to be willing to put down our strongly held convictions to have honest, raw conversations with every single person, regardless of their background or ours. We can’t continue to block out those who disagree with us because that will only cause more unrest.

Vulnerable conversations are difficult, but that can’t deter us from trying to fix our country. Years from now, do you want to have to say that you let the United States spiral out of control because you couldn’t have a civil conversation with someone who disagreed with you?

I know I don’t.

While the election will be over in less than a week, it seems to be at a tipping point, hinging on this election. All eyes are on the outcome of Nov. 8 and how people will react.

With the horror that has happened in the last year alone, most people will be expecting the worst. Part of me is expecting the worst. I won’t deny that this election truly scares me.

But we can be better than that. We can refuse to respond to things we disagree with in a violent manner. Most human beings are capable of kindness and compassion in some form, and we can’t lose sight of that.

When the final vote has been counted, we as citizens of the United States will have a new decision to make. (I know; it seems like too many decisions in a short amount of time to me too.)

How will we respond?