If I recycle a pop can, do I save the dolphins? If I accidentally drop this newspaper into the trash can, are the rainforests destroyed? Does every single thing I do matter in the long run?

What if I don’t vote? Granted, I don’t have to worry for two more years. But with all the talk about the elections for governor, I start to wonder. When I vote for president in 2008, will my vote really count?

I listened to my world studies teacher the other day. He was talking about how his vote will cancel out one of his student’s votes. So, why should either of them bother? Why not stay home and rent a movie instead? It would save time and it’d be a lot more fun.

My civic duty is to care. And I do, but does taking time out of my day to fill out a slip of paper really help our country? In two years, wouldn’t my time be better spent trying to keep up with my college assignments? It makes more sense to me that if I do well in school, I’ll get a better job through which I can have more of an impact. Maybe I want to keep writing. Maybe I’ll end up an editor for Time. Couldn’t I take advantage of a column to encourage people to make a change?

Does one vote make a difference? Thousands of people vote each year in the state of Michigan. Is it true that one vote can tip the scales? Or is mine lost in the sea of ballots?

On the other hand, what if everyone thinks that way? There are 300,000,000 people in the United States. Almost 240,000,000 of them are at least 18. How many of those hundreds of millions of people are actually going to vote in 2008? How many are even registered?

Hypothetically speaking, what if I vote? I’ve done my job as a citizen and now I feel a bit better about myself. I grew up hearing that if you don’t vote, you have no right to complain about the government. So I guess now I can complain. My candidate could lose though. They could lose by 100,000 or 10,000 or 5,000. My vote didn’t make a difference.

Let’s assume I don’t vote. If my candidate wins, then it didn’t matter that I didn’t vote. And if he loses by more than two votes, my vote probably wouldn’t have mattered either. But now I feel a little guilty. I’ll have to suffer through my parents, my friends and my teachers shutting out my opinions. “You didn’t even vote, so you can’t say anything.”

When it comes down to it, in two years the question will be: are you voting, or are you sitting on a couch saying, “What’s the point?”

I know where I’ll be. I’ll be in a small little booth, punching holes or filling in circles. One more statistic, but a statistic with an opinion.