To the editor:

When I was having dinner with my husband at a restaurant in Paris last summer, we began talking to our waiter about French politics. He told us that he had never voted in his life and had no interest in voting in the future. Startled by his statement, I asked him why, and he said that his vote would not make any difference on either side because neither side cared enough about the plight of workers like him. I was deeply saddened by his statement, having grown up in France in a family where voting was always regarded as a duty never to be missed. I tried to convince our waiter that his paid vacations and all the protections he was entitled to were achieved through people like him voting for politicians supporting workers’ rights. He didn’t seem to make the connection and kept returning to his cynical view of politics. Many people feel the same way in the United States for the same reasons, resulting in a real loss of human connectedness and a lack of belief in human power.

Not voting is equivalent to giving up on possible change. Thinking of the Civil Rights Movement giving equal rights to American Blacks, as well as the Suffragettes’ struggles for women’s right to vote (French women received the right only in 1945), we cannot say my vote means nothing. Your vote means a great deal—it makes you part of the village, the collective of humanity!

Not voting is selfish and despairing. It’s saying: “I don’t care,” “I am meaningless,” “I am nothing.”

Please vote on Nov. 5; your voice is powerful and can make a big difference at a time when elections often end in frequent cliffhangers! Your vote is your voice, and your voice is yours alone!

Brigitte Lagoutte
Lee Street, Marblehead