I would like to know the experience and what effect it had on your beliefs or opinions. Just looking for a few things but share whatever you want. I’ll start with a few of the things that I think had the biggest effects on me.

As a child I experienced being in foster care as well as being raised later by a single mother. I think that has shaped my feelings toward ensuring we have a strong social safety net as it is what my mother depended on for most of my early childhood to make ends meet. Growing up my extended family was majority women, grandma, five aunts, nine female cousins, and six half sisters. I don’t know if I would call myself a feminist because of how loaded that word has become but I think having such a strong female influence has definitely given me a healthy respect for women.

We all remember where we were that day. I was in seventh grade watching the tv in home room when the towers collapsed. When I turned 17 my mother signed the paperwork so I could join the army. My motivation to enlist was a desire to serve my country and be an example of what I believed this country represented. I served eight years and was exposed to the most diverse community I had yet to experience. All races, religions, political beliefs, sexual orientations, men and women, even other nationalities made up the US Army. Prior to my military service I identified as a conservative. Since then I have been squarely in the liberal side of the spectrum.

So, what about you? I am so interested just to learn about some of you.