In the name of suffrage

We take for granted the fact that many people have dedicated their lives in the name of suffrage.

By far, it has become more common to hear how people decide not to vote for reasons that include frustration and lack of trust in finding the right candidate. Missing out on your right to vote however has long term effects and we are “living” such effects while wondering why things stay the same.

There are many ways to learn about a candidate, more so demand a platform from them, which is why there is a need to give importance to education precisely because the role of educators is to help learners develop critical thinking. The right to vote is a privilege especially because we belong to a democracy.

In countries such as Saudi Arabia, where women are only up till recent times able to participate in elections, are examples that ought to jolt us to examine and ask ourselves why we would take such a privilege for granted in the first place . While politics will always be politics and there will always be something we will not like even after the results are in, the fact remains that exercising your right to vote is a duty as a citizen.

If we are truly serious about our democracy, we must exercise this right and accept the responsibilities that come along with it. At the end of the day, none of us should be the person that complains about the outcome of results because we did nothing to influence change. The power in the first place is in our own hands.