Opinion
 

Each drop counts in the flood of democracy

By Nathan Hoang

On the day before Election Day, weathermen on television stations from CNN to FOX informed the country of a nationwide flood from sea to shining sea. Even Alaska and Hawaii would feel the weight of this great deluge. Because this flood would determine how the country would be run for the next four years, it was a pretty important. The problem, however, was that the question was whether it would be a flood of rain or a flood of snow. The country would be submerged nevertheless, but whether the American people would listen and heed their advice was the main concern.

On the dark cloud that stretched for miles and miles across the country, a water droplet thought to itself, "What will it matter? It'll flood, with or without me, so what's the use of caring? Rain, snow, sleet of hail, it does not mater to me."

So time went by and the droplet talked among other droplets about its theory and philosophy on precipitation. "Save your breath," it said. "It wouldn't matter if you went down tomorrow. The other drops will take care of the job, and it will flood like it's supposed to. Just relax."

And soon enough, his apathetic attitude caught on and spread until almost half of the cloud decided it would not matter if it snowed or rained, because the drops simply did not care and found that the issue was not at all important to their lives.

Election Day came and gray clouds with no silver lining covered all 50 states of America.

And right on schedule, it started to rain, just as the weathermen had predicted. But instead of constant rain from day to night, only a slight drizzle fell from the sky, and the flood barely reached an inch of its full potential. This was disappointing, not only to the country but also to the rain cloud and the rain itself.

So in the end, because of the apathetic droplets, the great day deluge was nothing more than a puddle. And ironically enough, the apathetic droplets themselves complained that there was not enough rain to sustain life and all living things died.

And that was the end of the great United States of America.

In a country where voting for leaders is a privilege, this should never happen. In an election as close as the 2000 election, the phrase, "I demand a recount" would have never been used for anything other than sharing beans, had Americans not been so apathetic.

So when you think to yourself that your vote does not count, remember that votes add up and your vote does make a difference.

Now I'm a pretty dumb guy. I'm dumb enough to be eliminated in the first round of a spelling bee by the word "celestial," in fact. But I am not dumb enough to miss having my voice heard on Election Day.

Hoang, a columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached via dccampus@mail.uh.edu.