Being harped on that your vote matters is a lot of pressure, especially for a large number of us who don’t exactly get hyped when it comes to politics or the political process. Often, it’s a bit of a bother to know our opinion carries so much weight in deciding who will end up running our country. Perhaps some of us feel, if we don’t fully know all the facts wouldn’t a vote for the wrong person be an error in judgment? Recently, a smart person gave me a new perspective on this whole idea of backing out simply because we don’t have all the information organized on all the politician’s platforms, their party activities and their campaign promises.
Oct. 19 the federal election will take place and Canadians will be asked to show up and cast our ballots. If we are not fully immersed in political news year round it can be a bit of an irritation to be asked to cast a ballot for a group of persons we may not know enough about. Some of us have not decided which will do the best job and why we think they would be the best person to run our country, even up to the very day we vote.
The amount of information to be known is overwhelming to say the least and maybe some of us feel there is a gnawing realization we don’t know enough to make the absolute right choice for our future. Maybe this little bit of doubt is enough to stop some of us from even trying.
However, there is an alternate perspective to motivate us to vote. Maybe voting isn’t such a big deal and isn’t just for all those politically knowledgeable people. This friend of ours has told us it isn’t always so important we make the absolute right choice and maybe it isn’t so smart to put so much pressure on the belief that even just one vote matters. Our new perspective is our one vote isn’t going to win or lose an election. This means if we happen to choose poorly we can’t be held responsible if the wrong person comes in to power. It’s more of the act of voting that matters than if we make an absolute 100 per cent correct choice. Both the informed and the uninformed should be excited to vote. It’s the body of votes that makes the difference.
Voting is like anything else in life and we learn from our mistakes, but if we never try we will never have the opportunity to get better at the things we were once so terrible at. It’s not a big deal if we vote for the wrong person, the fact is if we are getting out there to vote for someone we are being a part of the process and that is what’s really important. By learning to vote every election, after a while, we can’t help but get better at something we are getting good practice at doing.
Voting this coming election means knowing you have the power to go out and get involved and just how easy it can be. Plus, just knowing we want to be there at the polls can inspire us to maybe do a little bit of research on the candidates, on their political parties, on what each politician stands for and where they see themselves taking Canada in the near future.
By taking our smart friend’s advice we can learn to get involved without that gnawing concern we have no idea what we are doing when we choose. Often, it’s overwhelming to be an average person surrounded by political pundits and other people with so much interest and knowledge about politics. Perhaps it’s the regular Joes who often don’t turn up to the polls, but this can change and we can vote even if we feel like we don’t have enough knowledge. We can be confident in knowing we don’t have to know everything and our small vote still matters, but our single vote isn’t going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
It’s amazing what a little bit of advice from a friend can do. It can change our perspectives, our attitudes and can even get us excited to do something we’ve always found to be a little out of our regular realm of knowledge.
