I’d like to talk about the upcoming election, all elections for that matter.

People our age aren’t voting, by and large. We have settled into a strange sort of apathy in which we think that something has to change, but we don’t do anything about it. We believe that eventually the weight of all that is wrong with our society, all that is corrupt with our government is going to just collapse in on itself.

But it’s not our responsibility, we claim. We claim we aren’t the people to do it. We don’t like the way things are, but there’s nothing we can do to change them. Nothing we do will make a difference – our vote won’t make a difference, our actions won’t make a difference, but we hold on to that hope that someday it will change.

I mean, it has to, right?

No, it doesn’t. Not if someone, sometime doesn’t stand up and try to change it. So why not us?

Everyone thinks that one vote doesn’t make a difference, and really, if you look at the messed up way the Electoral College is run, a single vote wouldn’t matter. But what about all of our votes?

At the beginning of this semester there were over 5,550 students enrolled at Emporia State who were eligible to vote. That’s equal to almost a quarter of Emporia’s total population.

If we all spoke out we could make a difference, at least in our own community- for our own city, our own county. If all of us went out and took a stance – on issues that affect us more directly than we may think, I might add – then we could make a difference.

At least here. It could start here, now, with us.

But it could go so much further. If every person who thinks that one vote didn’t make a difference went out and did it the combined weight of our decisions would be the catalyst that finally started the revolution we need.

This coming election day I implore you- no matter what party you affiliate with, no matter which side of the issues you fall on- go to the polls. Be the one to stand up and say no more. Choose the world you want to live in.

Vote.