On a recent visit to Boston, Massachusetts, I met a group of young people wearing T-shirts bearing the above message.

The slogan comes from hip-hop culture. The intention was to get young people and their adult counterparts to realise how important it was to engage in the presidential election. The young people I met were involved in a local community project that was trying to improve voter turnout. Young people knocked on doors and cold-called local residents. Their message was simple - voting is important; it is your democratic right; people died for this right, your vote affects us; we can't vote but would like to; please get involved in choosing the future for all of us. This was a neighbourhood where the community had organised to pull itself out of extreme poverty - and had succeeded.

The Iraq election triggered this memory. The papers showed the picture of a young woman holding a flag - a similar message. The courage it takes to vote in those circumstances is astounding. We are fortunate here that our access to the polls is safe and, for those of us who use our local schools or church hall, often a sociable process.

Of course we have had our minor difficulties. It is only within the past 100 years that women have been allowed to vote, let alone have other rights.

I remember my pleasure at the introduction of Equal Opportunities legislation - even if the full outcomes have yet to be achieved.

Here we are facing another election and what will our turnout be like?

The panic of the day is about the potential apathy of voters. This may be one response but I believe that we should not stand aside from this process. If people in other countries go to the polls under extremely dangerous circumstances, we also need to engage if we believe in democracy and our role in making a difference.

How can it be good enough to give way to apathy when faced with the example of the young people in Boston, the people of Iraq and our foremothers?

This is not to say voting is enough - it is the starting point in a journey of democratic engagement. Iraq is on a difficult journey. Democracy here struggles too - but in a very different way.