DailyJim: I feel sad when people don’t vote

Hello everyone, welcome to another Daily Gym. This is the episode for Thursday, October 17th, 2024, the last one for the week. And I want to talk about how I feel sad when people don't vote.

This can apply to non-Americans and Americans as well. I think I feel sad when people don't vote because often people don't vote because they don't think that their vote matters.

And a lot of times when people don't think that their vote matters they also don't think that their voice matters and yeah to be honest one vote.

Is it going to have a huge impact on the election depending if it's a local or national election Most likely not. But that's like being in a room of people. And should you speak up, even though there's a good chance that they're not going to take your, like your voice is not going to change the direction of the group? Well, I don't know. If you don't speak up, then the group will go in a specific direction if you do speak up maybe they still go in the same direction but the impact on you is different because holding that in and not speaking up I think can make us regret not speaking up how many times have you ever been in a group where something was happening and you disagreed with what was happening but you didn't say anything because well what's the point of me saying anything it's not really going to change anything, but the regret, the guilt, the frustration, the anger at oneself for not having the courage to speak up, how often does that just eat at us.

And you know, the nice thing about at least the ballot box here in the United States is that there are laws that make it a private ballot box. So if you vote, people don't know who you voted for. I actually just got a postcard in the mail that says, people don't know who you voted for, but whether you voted or not is public record. I thought that was really interesting. But this idea, so it's almost like they know if you spoke up. They know if you participated. They don't know what you said.

But what you say impacts the election small small small but even even if you think it doesn't impact the election it might impact you because maybe somebody makes a policy going forward and you go hey i disagree with that policy i disagree with many policies i disagree with a lot of what's happening in the government and then you will know that you didn't even vote you didn't participate you sat it out. You basically just sat on the bench or you turned the channel and you just ignored the problem. You avoided the conflict. You ran away from it. And I feel sad when I see friends and family and strangers and enemies just kind of giving up and thinking that their opinion doesn't matter, their voice doesn't matter, their perspective doesn't matter, that nobody cares about what they have to say, nobody cares about what they're thinking. For me, that is a much bigger crisis than maybe which direction, you know, should it be this policy or that policy. I think a much bigger crisis is when, as a society, more and more people just give up on the political process. Because I don't think it's just the political process. I think it's the process of trying to resolve conflicts together.

If politics really is just how do we organize ourselves as a society, what rules and laws do we put in place so that we can function together, so that we can actually cooperate, and that we can live together, peace, harmony, prosperity, whatever you want to call it. And when we give up on that, it's almost like we're just giving up on each other. And I wonder if there's a correlation between apathy and indifference and whether people vote or not. It's not just voter. I wonder if it's just voter apathy or if there's kind of an overall apathy where people just kind of give up on life. They don't want to live anymore. They just don't, or not that they don't want to live, but don't really see the, don't want to speak anymore.

Don't want to speak. Don't want to share their voice. Don't want to share their perspective. Don't want to share their feelings. Don't want to share what is happening inside of them with the rest of the world so that we can all understand what is going on with you so that we could better try to work together.

So when I hear people say that they're not going to vote, I just feel really sad because I started thinking, what else is going on in their life? What else has got them to a point where they may think that their voice doesn't matter, and how much are they holding in is it that they really don't care or is it just that they're holding it in because they don't think other people care.

Um and yeah my voice doesn't matter my vote doesn't matter you're assuming other people don't care about your vote. Maybe, yeah, and the number, yeah, if there's 100 million votes or something, one doesn't necessarily matter that much. But again, it's like, where's the enthusiasm for caring? Where's the enthusiasm for life and for wanting to see these conflicts resolved and wanting to participate in making some of these decisions or at least voicing our opinions and, And I just, like I said, I feel sad because I don't think it just applies to politics and voting. I think it sometimes isn't even about politics. I think it's about some other aspect of, you know, people don't care about me or my voice doesn't matter at work or my voice doesn't matter in my family. So I just hold it in because what's the point in speaking out? They're never going to change anyways.

And I feel sad thinking about how we might be going more and more in that direction, where people are telling us to shut up and saying, you know, your voice doesn't matter. Nobody wants to hear it. Instead of going the opposite direction, say, screw you. What did my one friend say to me once? You know, because even I, I mean, I struggle with this stuff too. And I was something like, I don't know if this person wants to hear this. Aaron wants to listen to this or hear this and my friend said no no you speak because you want them to hear it not because they want to hear it you want them to hear it I was like I love that, I mean I think it's a balance but I think it's so easy to forget that part of the reason that we speak is because we want the other person to hear what we have to say.

And voting is one way to make people hear what we have to say. Not voting is a way to sit out the game. It's to shut up. I mean, I took hostage negotiation training, and they said one of the most dangerous times is when the conversation ends because you don't know what's going on.

Disconnecting and breaking conversation is not very helpful for resolving conflict. It's not very helpful for telling people what we want.

There are a lot of people who think they, you know, are thinking about boycotting the vote in this election.

But what does that specifically say? Why don't you shout and say what you want and fervently fight for what you want, not just go quiet and assume that the other person knows what you want because you went quiet. How are you supposed to resolve conflict? Do you think they're going to come to the table with you next when you just ignore them? Let me just ignore them and then maybe they'll come back. Or why don't you stand up and say, this is what I want. I'm voting for you because I trust you're going to listen to me. And I'm going to say this whether you want to hear it or not. I'm voting to get you in office because I trust that you might listen to me more than other people. But I'm going to say it whether you want to hear it or not. And I'm not going to give up. And I'm going to keep saying it until you finally hear it.

What about that?

That inspires me. I want to see people like that. If you disagree with what one of our leaders is doing, speak up, in a way that is not vilifying them, that is not demonizing them, that is not dehumanizing them, but in a way where they might actually come to the table because you're standing up for something that you really believe in and you are very vocal about it and you are very detailed about it and you are talking about why it hurts you and why it hurts other people in your life and why you want to see it stop because it is bringing so much suffering to the people that you care about.

Speak. Please speak. And one of the easiest, lowest energy ways to speak is to vote.

It's a gateway to participating in the process. Once we stop voting, it's almost like we give up. I don't believe in the idea of boycott. I don't think boycotts work very well. I think it is a form of, actually kind of a form of violence and threat, which I don't think violence and threats work very well for long-term achievements and long-term conflict resolution. They may work in the short term, but it's not going to build bridges. It's not going to rebuild bonds and build reconciliation so that people want to solve problems together.

So I hope that more people get out to vote. Yeah, I mean, I'm working with this Keyboards for Kamala, so I want people to vote for Kamala. I really want people to vote for Kamala, but at the same time, I at least want people to vote. Because if people are voting, then people are getting out, they're expressing their opinion, and then we can have an honest conversation if people are honestly expressing their opinion. And one of the benefits of expressing an opinion in a private ballot box is you can be really honest. Even if you tell the world you're voting one way, when you vote, you can vote whichever way you want. So even if you have pressure from your family, from your spouse, from your workplace, from your neighborhood, from your online communities, or from your identities, or even pressure on yourself to vote a specific way, when you get in the ballot box here in the United States, because of the laws we have on privacy, you can vote however you want. Music. So that is my cue as I think we hit over 10 minutes and the clock is ringing 11 minutes so um yeah so that's gonna be my message for today, and i really hope that you all, just vote please vote yeah for me yeah for society but for yourself speak up voice yourself get out there. Get involved. Believe that what you have to say is important, and more than anything, say it because you want other people to hear it. All right, talk to you all next week.