In the mail I received information regarding my registration to vote and where I can vote in the current federal election. My sister-in-law, like so many others (and like myself once upon a time), told me that she is not voting, even though she is twenty-four,  and that she never has, and that she isn't very political. There's this little meme floating around Facebook that has a face of Rick Mercer and his quote: "If you're between the age of 18 and 25 and you want to scare the hell out of the people that run this country, this time around do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day and do what young people all around the people are dying to do. Vote." I mean, what a blessing it is to live in a country where people feel like they can do absolutely nothing come election time, because they feel it doesn't affect them. That being said, it's completely ridiculous that both the privileged and unprivileged alike don't consider the importance of their ability and right to vote.

I know exactly what my sister-in-law and those like her are feeling. I grew up simply believing that everything in my world was basically good and that all the people around me were basically good and that I didn't have major things to fear. Though my grandparents were and are very political, my parents were not, or at least didn't initiate dinner-time conversations about their ideologies on the subject. All I knew about politics was I felt stupid ever discussing them, because I didn't know anything beyond the basics about democracy, and words like parliament and legislature both scared and bored me. Back when Bill C-38 regarding homosexual marriage was proposed, my best friend participated in a few protests and her dad regularly wrote political columns and phoned in to the radio. I remember asking her to tell me how our government works one time, but I got too mixed up in the details to come away knowing anything. In addition, I don't recall any conversation about politics in any of my classes grade 9-12; and though I'm sure there must have been something, it obviously wasn't memorable, significant, or thorough. So I kept on living in a world believing that whoever was running things was doing a basically good job and because I had never done anything to help or hinder that I didn't need to do anything. And though I have always belonged to a privileged group in society and have no idea what it's like not to belong to one, I assume that those who are at the short end of the stick and who view the government as basically terrible (and are not voting) believe that their little voice can't do anything to change what has always been basically terrible.

I mean, there are some really great and important and interesting political topics out there that people from all genres of life should and would get into: environmental concerns vs. our dependence on oil for our economy, whether the rich should pay more taxes, how the government supports a stay-at-home parent, how the government supports a working woman, censorship, pros and cons of big vs. small government, how the government should or shouldn't treat First Nations, Metis and Inuit people, the role of the PM and what perhaps it should be, whether a person supports a socialist help-eachother-out or capitalist pull-up-your-boostraps point of view, etc. These are real, meaty topics brewing beneath political campaigns of black and white photos of Harper, Trudeau or Mulcair beside the coloured, smiling portrait of the one who is going to make change happen! or be dependable! or work for you! 

Schools, families, churches should all be debating these topics and should all be familiar with where the political parties stand on these issues. Not only is it embarrassing to be a part of that slouchy non-political group, it's irresponsible and ignorant. I understand that with the right to vote comes the right not to, but come on. Everyone has an opinion on things like refugees and whether or not our country needs to buck up when it comes to the environment, and if you don't, you need to pull your head out of whatever selfish place it's residing and open your eyes.

I took a quiz through cbc called Vote Compass that, after a series of questions, tells you which political party you mostly support. My sister-in-law was present, and as I read out the questions it asked, not surprisingly, she had a strong opinion on each of them.

So, Canadians, let's not be apathetic, uneducated, or lazy; educate yourself, then vote.