For my 1000th Post - Why I became a Progressive

[Bjorn Against]

I am writing to you today not only to tell you who I am, but also to tell you a little bit about the other people in my life who helped make me who I am. It is always easy to sit and take credit for the accomplishments we have made in our lives, but it is always a bit more difficult to recognize all the people who helped us make those accomplishments. Yet the truth is that there is not a single person in this world who is truly a self-made person, we are all the products of our society and I am no exception.

Some of us have been given an enormous amount of privilege while others have left to suffer great deals of pain. While I have certainly seen much pain in my life, overall I realize that I am an extremely privileged person. I could have ended up living in poverty, left to fend for myself hoping and praying for nothing more than a roof over my head and a warm meal on my table. Instead I am sitting here in my own home writing this and dreaming of the day I can go back to college once again to get a more advanced degree so that I can go on to be a college professor in Sociology. I can dream this dream knowing that I actually have a good chance of accomplishing it, and the only reason I can dream of accomplishing such a goal is because of the people that have helped make this world a better place.

My childhood was a bit difficult. I grew up living with a brother who suffered from a severe case of schizophrenia. I would always go home to a situation in which I did not know what was going to happen to me, I did not know if he was going to break one day and seriously hurt me or someone in my family, I did not know what kind of hurtful words he would throw at me, and I did not know what my friends would think of me the next time my brother acted out.

Then one day my brother disappeared. When we eventually heard from him we found out he was no longer in Minnesota. He had hitchhiked out to New York City with only $20 to his name and he was living on the streets of Manhattan. I was young at the time so it was difficult for me to understand the full extent of what my brother was going through, in fact I was kind of relieved when he left because I wouldn't have to be living in fear of him anymore. Today I certainly think differently. Today it troubles me to look back and think about how troubled my childhood must have been if I could have actually felt relieved to find out my brother was homeless and in a very dangerous situation.

Fortunately however the story does not end there. My brother taken in by a homeless shelter in New York, and eventually got flown back to Minnesota. When he got back here he was still in pretty bad shape, and he remained in bad shape for a few years to follow. Eventually however they found a medication which works for him, and he started change rapidly in a very positive way. It took me several years before I could really recognize the change, I had been so upset by the way he had turned my life upside down in the past that it took me a while to really recognize that he was a different person. Now I certainly recognize the enormous positive changes that he has made in his life however.

Today he has his own apartment and is able to live independently without trouble. He is still unable to work, but he does receive enough money in Social Security to live a stable life. My brother's life was saved because of progressive values, which allowed our society to have the social safety net to help a person like my brother who would have otherwise had no chance.

Progressive values not only saved my brother however, they saved me as well. After the difficulties of my childhood I had basically given up on life by the time I became a teenager. I pretty much stopped talking to everyone except my closest friends. I became so shy that I would often go the whole day without saying any more than a few words. I did not care about my future anymore, because I thought I had no hope left. I started moving into the work world by taking dead end jobs at convenience stores, fast food, and at one point I was cleaning movie theaters for a wage which barely exceeded the minimum. Through much of the time I was doing this I was actually quite right-wing in many of my political views and I thought I was being paid the fair market wage and did realize the extent to which I was being taken advantage of.

Eventually however I had taken a little too much abuse, I started to get upset and my views started to shift to the left. I decided to go to college, I did not think I actually had a chance of graduating I simply wanted to learn a little bit more. When I got there however things started to change rapidly. I had a English teacher who somehow saw a great potential in me the moment I set foot in the door of the college, and she encouraged me to write my thoughts without fear of what others would think of my opinion. This was 2001, and just a couple weeks after the class began 9/11 happened. Our assignment was to write about our reactions to the event. I did write, I wrote my fears that the Bush administration was going to use this event as an excuse to launch a pointless war and clamp down on our civil liberties. I wrote about the innocent people around the world that have been killed by acts of militarism by our government. And not only did I write but I spoke. Here I was a person who barely talked to anyone suddenly starting to speak out in a very public fashion at a time when hardly any one else was speaking out.

I thought my words would probably eventually get me into trouble but I did not care, I just wanted to make my time in college something I could proud of even if it caused me to develop a bad reputation with some of the people who graded me. But it just so happens that I did not get in trouble for my words, in fact suddenly I started a respect from people that I never thought I would see. I ended semester at college with a report card straight A's a feat I never would have dreamed possible to accomplish. As I went on I continued to get high grades in all my subjects, and eventually was able to transfer to Hamline University which is one of the most respected private colleges in Minnesota and I graduated Magna cum Laude.

I am now working a full time job which is going to provide me with great future opportunities, and my dream of going on to get an advanced degree in Sociology is very much a realistic dream today. I did not get here on my however, I got here because of the progressive movement that has given people opportunities to succeed by providing us with education, support for families with people who have disabilities, and all the other things that we so often take for granted.

It is important that we step back sometimes and look at what others have done for us because not a single successful person has ever gotten where they are on their own. We have so many people assisting us every day in whatever we do and often we don't even recognize it. We don't see the person who stitches our clothes for us, or the farmer who grows our food, or the person who scrubs the toilets of the public restrooms we use, all of these people make our lives more livable yet they do not get the recognition for it. We all have a lot to be thankful for, and I am thankful for everything that everyone has done to make me a successful person.

I want to thank every single person here today who has stood up for a more progressive America, each and every one has made my life and the lives of countless others better. Keep up the fight, we can make a better world.

[ShortnFiery]

1. Very nice to make your acquaintance ...

I'm glad that you are a fellow "progressive" albeit I often prefer the label "liberal."

We're on the same team with "the populists" I believe. ;)

FWIW, please consider an advanced degree that also comes with *a certification* upon completion (Clinical Social Worker?) because I had to undergo additional training to be certified for Addiction Counseling after earning my Masters in Psychology. That is, if you don't wish to go fully for the PhD. You can teach (become a professor) with a Masters Degree at any accredited Community College and many four year Universities Overseas. Just a thought if you wish to directly enter the counseling work force vice conducting research within controlled settings before completing the Pile it Higher and Deeper (PhD.) Degree. :shrug:

Again, nice see you here online. :-) :hi:

On Edit: Yes, many people helped with my degrees: family, friends, part time employment, TA assistance from the University and $8300.00 from the Veterans Educational Assistance Program (four years Active Duty Army). No one does it by themselves ... lots of help, persistence, determination and a little good fortune. Agreed. :thumbsup:

[Bjorn Against]

3. Thanks, I do prefer the term "progressive" though

I am not here to start a debate over which word is better to use, but I do want to defend the term progressive. The reason for my preference that has nothing to do with the way the right has demonized the word "liberal", but rather just the varying ways liberal can be used. If you are talking about trade policy for example the word liberal means something very different than the word does when you are talking about political ideology.

When used in the sense of political preference I certainly fit the definition of what a liberal is, but when the word is used in other contexts it does not fit my beliefs nearly as well.

As far as the degree goes, thanks for the advice. My goal is to be a college professor, but actually the field I am in right now would allow me to advance if I got a higher degree in Sociology whether I had a certificate or not. I am not looking at the Social Work field so much, I am looking more into higher education as my ultimate career goal.

Thank you for the advice though, it is good to have you here.

[ShortnFiery]

4. Understood. And I agree, our perspectives, not our labels, makes the difference.

Best wishes for your continued accomplishments. :-) :hi:

[peacetalksforall]

2. I'm glad I read your story. Stay with it. Nicely done. k & r

[PoiBoy]

5. Excellent post...

and very inspirational...!!

:hi:

[yellerpup]

6. You are an inspiraton.

The Universe will help you keep being one. Thanks for sharing your story.

[Bjorn Against]

8. Thanks for the kind words, but I want to give the credit to others

I may have accomplished far more than I expected to accomplish, but I could not have done so without help and I want to give everyone who has ever worked for a progressive agenda for making my life possible. I don't want people looking only to me as an inspiration, I want people looking at the movement. The truth is that most of us do have an inspirational story we could tell, but rather than looking at individual accomplishments I want to look at what makes those inspirational stories possible. There have been many people doing great work and every one of them shares in the credit.

[yellerpup]

10. Well spoken.

Your mentors must be smiling.

[cliss]

7. What a beautiful story, MN.

And thank you for sharing.

This is the reason why I keep coming back to the DU. I have never found a blog web site that has more to offer than this place.

I can tell you as for myself, I was surfing a wave of rage that started early in 2000. I was absolutely mortified, seized by anger about what happened with the election. That was a point where I was forced into politics which I never cared for.

Was possessed to find out what on earth HAPPENED how could this happen in my country???? It took about 1 year of searching, but I finally found some answers.

Surfed in here on my surf board, and discovered I was not alone!!! What a nice discovery. Now, I feel much better about things, and I'm not angry any more.

Thanks.

[Stevepol]

11. I hope you found the ERD forum. The American people didn't vote for this bozo.

Not in 2000 and not in 2004, a majority of Americans that is. * is an illegitimate president.

It's better to think of it this way because, in addition to being true, it helps not to demonize the American people who are doing the best they can do under the circumstances. When you don't have a democracy, you do the best you can do. Hopefully, something will be done about auditing the electronic voting machines and elections in the future will be a fairer representation of the actual vote of the American people. The villains here are the owners and programmers of the voting machines and primarily, ES&S and Diebold, tho the others are probably just about as culpable, Sequoia for sure and even Micro-Vote, which I had a kind of run-in with a couple years ago because of a LTTE.

[MODemocrat]

9. I was both sad and glad while reading your true story

First of all, I'm so happy for your brother and you and your family. Thanks to all progressives in this country. When you listen to most Republicans, you hear rheoteric, nothing solid, all old worn out
phrases, everything negative; they fight progress. Just as they did on the non-binding resolution.
Thank goodness for progressives. One has to be brave and willing to take a lot of criticism from the
do-nothings in this country, in order to make progress.

Thanks for sharing this great story with us fellow DUers, and congratulations for your 1000th post.

:toast: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :toast:

[WiseButAngrySara]

12. What a wonderful and inspiring 1000th post! KNR! ....n/t