I was grateful for the opportunity to make a difference. The political violence really started in 1970-1971. The political difficulties start a little bit beyond that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Politics for me started in violence.
I was born the year the Troubles began, in 1968. That world of violence was all I knew - people murdered, maimed, kneecapped, bombed. I don't remember a time without a major atrocity of some kind every week.
We were raised with that discussion about violence and non-violence, and we all pretty much came up on the side of non-violence. That became my foundation with politics and my livelihood.
I was still interested in the youth rebellion but never-the-less I stopped being a victim. Stopped trying to attack the establishment realizing that it takes too much of your energy.
All of my life I have stayed away from violence and the instruments of violence, and have seen a legal, democratic struggle as the only means to achieve change.
Violence ravaged my life. I was a victim of hatred, and I have dedicated my life to reversing that hatred.
As far as I can tell, 1968 is a year about change, about revolution, about violence, about people turning inwards as community breaks down.
I got into politics a little bit by chance, as a person from the first generation of the Solidarity movement.
Many things happened in the sixties, but the period is no more significant, better, or more 'political' than today. It's time to turn the page.
The uproar of the late '60s - the antiwar movement, black riots, angry women. It was a wonderful time.