Why are you politically inclined? [View All]

[Lucinda]

I've been away from DU for a couple years due to illness, and as I play catch-up, reading the threads here, I am struck by how much diversity our little corner of the world contains. At first, I was sort of floored by this deeply passionate, violent, sort of energy that I see in a lot of threads. I get it. We are a diverse group of people. And a fed-up group of people, which can lead to a lot of "why dont you SEE that my guy/gal is the RIGHT CHOICE!!!!!" sort of posts. But one thing that we do have in common RIGHT NOW, that separates us from an unfortunately large part of the population, is that somewhere along the line we became "political". We care. ACTIVELY. And as I was sitting here, thinking about how it all started for me, I sort of wondered what made you involved too.

I didn't grow up in a house that discussed politics. I can remember though, vividly, when I started looking at the world outside my family. It started as a bribe. A grade school teacher offered a silver dollar to everyone who could recite The Gettysburg Address, from memory, in front of the class. A dollar was a lot of moola to the young wlucinda. :) So... I grabbed a printed copy of the text and started to think about the candy I was going to buy with my dollar. (We didnt "do" candy in my house - except on rare occasions, so this was going to be a TREAT.) And what makes me smile....all these years later, is the fact that I cannot remember if I succeeded that day, got my "prize" and bought candy, or if I failed. But I DO remember The Gettysburg Address. Every Word. And I remember getting interested in Lincoln. I wanted to know what sort of person could write those words.

So...if you dont mind sharing....how did you begin? :)