My Life and Political Events

I believe that political events: Have influenced my life to some degree.

Year: 1973
Age: not born
Event: Yom Kippur War
Effect: My dad basically dodged joining the Israeli army and came back to America for college. I added this because the major political influence in my life is my father. He has described this time in his life to me in much detail. If he did not choose to move back to America my entire life… well, may not have been a life.

Year: 1998
Age: 9
Event: Clinton sex scandal- The president “kissed” a woman that was not his wife. He denied it even though everyone knew it was true. President Clinton was a good politician but “couldn’t keep his pick in his pants”
Effect: I became aware of the media and its relationship to politics. I learned that if you have something politically related to say adults will actually listen to you.

Year: 2000
Age: 11
Event: Bush beat Gore- I was in school and we were having mock elections. We spent a couple weeks split into two sides debating and researching our chosen candidates. The class became very competitive and I personally was very upset at one specific girl (Kristen) who was a Bush supporter. I am not sure why, but I have a clear memory of getting into a heated argument about our candidates and feeling that neither of us had any clue why we chose our guy. The teacher had to intervene because we were both becoming angry.
Effect: Eventually Gore lost, in the real election that is, and I felt embarrassed. I learned from this experience that politics felt a lot like sporting events. Everyone chooses a team; if you win you are cocky and if you loose you are ashamed and frustrated.


Year: 2001
Age: 12
Event: Sept. 11- I was in class with my favorite teacher. He calmed everyone down and broke the news. We went outside and listened to the reports on his car radio. My class spread rumors around the entire school, even to teachers, that the twin towers were hit by mistake but they crumbled to the ground. A few kids were hysterical because their parents worked in the buildings. I was upset because other students were crying but could not visualize what really happened. I got home and watched the video on the news and broke down. My two younger siblings and I had a sleepover in my parent’s room for the next couple days because we were afraid.
Effect: I learned that America is hated.