Do you think your vote makes a difference?

That was the question they asked me.
And wouldn't you know it, I had a position all picked out for me to defend. I had to go on air and tell people that their vote didn't make a difference.

Now ordinarily, I would shoot myself before I did something like that.

But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea
Mathew 18:6

Yes, I've been brought up a Christian; and my mother, bless her, made sure I knew the Bible.


Now, I believe I have a gift. It is the ability to convince people, quite well, of a stance that I currently hold. I once wrote that I could come up with arguments both supporting and refuting the existence of God, and both of them would be good arguments. I could, and can: But the question is- do I want to?

Quite frankly, no. If there's one thing I despise- it is destroying someone else's faith. You see faith, and the hope that it entails, is one of the most precious gifts that a person has. And if you shake that...
then good job, my son, you've just killed a soul. See you in Hell.

And so, I thought I'd take some time out and write this note; more to ease my conscience than anything else.

So, does your vote make a difference?
In a word, no. It does not. Before you pin me down as a cynical old loon ("Armchair Critic", I believe the word was) take a minute and think about it. If you, successfully, go and cast your vote, which in itself is a big achievement, do you think you're going to bring about a difference? You, sitting there in your air-conditioned apartment, comfortable, fed and watered. You. Not the public, not the "People"; but you.

Yes? What difference, pray tell.

The common understanding of the word "difference" is a change in outcome. In this context- if a person is to win on account of your vote, he should win on account of it. Then, apparently, tomorrow will be a brighter day filled with sunshine and daisies.

Quite.

Let me tell you something, friend. for every vote that you cast from your velvet-covered hand, there are ten other louts who will vote any which way they please for a packet of Biryani. My maid tells me that she took five hundred rupees to vote for a particular person. So, quite a lot more than a packet of Biryani then.

And yet, we still vote. What is the difference?

The difference Mister Cynic, is not out there, it's in here.


The only difference worth making, is the difference to yourself. If you change the world and you have no feeling of satisfaction, then that is no difference at all. If you give a million people television kits (and Air Conditioners and Refridgerators if modern trend is anything to go by) and you do not feel a sense of having made a difference, then what is the point?

The bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain, the bear went over the mountain, to see what he could see.
And all that he could see, and all that he could see, and all that he could see,
Was the other side of the mountain, was the other side of the mountain,
The other side of the mountain, was all that he could see.

You know what?

In the bear's heart, he feels that he has made a difference;

and that, is the only thing that matters.


Why should I vote?

Because I can.

Because if i do not, someone else will vote for me. And no one, No one, does anything in My name without My express authorisation.

Yes, I have God-like delusions sometimes. Sue me.

Will it make a difference?

Yes, it will.

To whom?

To the only person who matters,


Me.




Addendum:
So why did I do it? The same reason I refused when my mother told me not to read Dan Brown.

If your faith is so pathetic that you let it be shaken at the first sound of contradiction, then you do not deserve to have faith at all.

A trial by fire, is the only trial worth having.