I'm sure you've heard by now that on Thursday, the United Kingdom (the UK) voted to leave the European Union -- a vote that was cleverly named, 'Brexit.' It was the vote heard 'round the world, well, sort of (okay, maybe not). But this vote will undoubtedly shake up the UK; maybe we should back up a little bit and talk about what exactly the European Union is and why it's such a big deal.

So Europe is big, obviously, and before the formation of the European Union, the countries had such different laws about what was allowed to be imported into each and what the cost of that (in the form of tariffs) would be. This non-unification made many other economic processes between countries very long and difficult, but wouldn't it be easier if all the rules and processes are the same? And that, my friends, is how the European Union came about in 1993; the rest, they say, is history... until the UK took a long, hard look at that history.

After the 2008 financial crisis that sent European countries into a whirlwind of debt, and concerning increases in immigration into the UK since 1994, it was questionable as to whether the European Union membership was doing more harm than good for the UK.

And so, the question that stood was whether or not the UK should remain a member of the union. Nearly 52 percent of voters elected to leave the union, while 48 percent wanted to continue to be part of the union. Most voters between the ages of 18 and 24 voted to remain a part of the union, while additional voters who wanted to stay were too young to vote. But it's the younger generation that will have to bear whatever consequences arise. This is a chilling example to young Americans of the power of the ability to vote.

Any changes as a result of the decision would likely take years to take place. Though, the value of the British pound has already dropped to $1.37 per pound from $1.46 back in May 2016. Future results could be more devastating than drops in the value of the currency, or maybe this decision won't be as negative as some say it will be. What do you think?