The Importance of Voting

I heard a phrase early on this summer that has stuck with me. It’s something I’ve heard at least a few times before. Several times before if I’m honest. It’s something that has always made me think of course, that makes sense, and then – poof. It’s no longer front of mind for me. But these last six months or so it’s remained firmly in place. Something to no longer be forgotten.

Vote with your dollars.

Spend your money at the places that you want to support. Be a customer of the companies you want to see succeed. Donate your resources to the organizations working to impact the causes you care about. [Our time and attention are resources we often overlook that, at least in my book, count as currency too.]

Be congruent about all the things you say matter to you. Or be grown up enough to admit that you don’t care about those things nearly as much as you like to tell yourself. And if the latter is the case, then you have a great opportunity to figure out what does truly matter to you.

We vote with our dollars every time we make a purchase. Even the tiny ones that don’t register as a blip in our minds as they happen. 

We vote with our attention every time we choose to focus on one thing over another. This is to our advantage when we focus on something that makes us and our relationships somehow better. It also works to our detriment when we find ourselves scrolling instead of enjoying the company right next to us. We’ve all looked up from our screens and seen just how that kind of vote makes someone we care about feel.

I can’t be the only one that realizes just how often I spend my resources thoughtlessly. When I don’t take that one second to pause and check my intentions. I’m working on changing that. I’m not expecting perfection. Far from it actually. But, I am expecting better from myself.

This fall we were blasted with messages of how much our votes matter. That’s true every day. Not just on the first Tuesday of November every four years. How we choose to vote with our resources matters, every single day. We just don’t pay attention often enough to know how we are casting our votes.

Our lack of awareness can cost us far more than we realize. But there is good news too. When we choose to be more intentional with our resources, it makes a big difference. Think about it. I’m sure you will be able to find several recent examples in your own life. [Like that day you did curbside pick-up from a local shop instead of ordering on Amazon again.]

Speaking of Amazon, recently my dad posted a photo on Facebook of a book I had passed on to him after I’d read it. It was a book I had bought at Borders more than a decade ago, with the Borders Classic callout on the spine. He included one line in his caption about Borders and how he hopes being able to shop at a brick-and-mortar bookstore will always be an option.

Someone commented on his post about how Amazon has ruined bookstores. [That’s a slight paraphrase, but it is the sentiment behind their words.] For weeks now, their words have been in my head. And it isn’t just their words: So many people are quick to blame Amazon and big corporations like them for struggling small businesses of every kind.

If you think about it though, it isn’t Amazon’s fault. It never has been. Like every business, for Amazon to succeed there needs to be customers to support them. And there are. Millions of loyal customers who spend billions of dollars with them each year. We can’t fault Amazon when we are the ones continually choosing convenience over everything else we say matters.

Will I purchase from Amazon sometimes still? Absolutely. They provide an amazing service that I am happy to have in my life. I just don’t want them to be the only option in my future. As one example, I always want to see local bookstores and coffee shops in every neighborhood I visit, so I’m intentionally voting with my dollars to support that future world.

This year has been wild. It’s also been a pivotal year in shaping what our future will look like. Which is is probably why vote with your dollars has permanently lodged itself in my brain. It’s an intention check that I’m grateful is becoming automatic for me.

With a very different feeling holiday season upon us, I’m being careful how I cast my votes. I’m a more minimal person, so the whole giving and receiving gifts process is a challenge for me. I usually gift experiences and time more than physical items. But, that route has more obstacles this year – six feet worth of them.

I know this year I will likely give more physical gifts than I usually do. I’ve decided to be content with that. And to keep in mind that the point of all of this gift giving business is to help people feel loved, noticed, and appreciated. This year, that does mean mailing more appreciation than usual because it’s safer to stay apart right now.

While making my purchases, I am challenging myself to shop nearly exclusively at local and small businesses that I want to see succeed. There are a few larger companies standing up for causes I care about, and I’m okay with supporting them directly too. Especially if I can’t buy their items from a small business. Some gifts are going to be only homemade cookies and a holiday card, and I can’t help but wonder if those packages will be the most appreciated.

The older I get, the more I believe that voting will always be at least a little bit complicated. Everything worthwhile usually is.