The first was that I signed on here, created an account and all that, just for the purpose of commenting to this article, just for the purpose of applauding, commending, and thanking you for writing it. The second was that it spurred me on to some writing of my own, some writing that has been bound and gagged for a good many years.

I'd begun writing a response to your article. I suppose in a way I was writing my own personal parallel experiences during the decades you wrote of. It got longer than I'd intended though. I think it will ultimately be far far too long for a comment anyplace. It has surprised me in its intensity and need to be written. So I will finish it. And I will return here and post a link to it in case anyone should want to read it.

It is a very different story than yours. It is essentially the story of a person's path from great active idealism to near-hopeless futility at best. It is a story of all the little things that can contribute to a person shutting down and shutting off from anything resembling idealistic political action. It is a story of suspension and I suppose even oppression as one learns what not to do - in an environment of nihilistic nationalism taken to the extreme - as even local town governments, civic associations, and subdivision dictatorships have destroyed lives over crimes like flat tires, tall grass, and paint of the wrong colorings, as they too have climbed onto the control wagons for the sake of "protecting the people".

At any rate, I thank you again, this time specifically for helping inspire me to again write something with any degree of significance. I'd almost forgotten how. Thank you, for people like you.