Past Issues and Character Passions?

Not oft mentioned but consistent enough in this blog is that I am an adherent to Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. I think about philosophy every day -- have for years since I've discovered this system -- and Rand's system permeates all the principles behind my thoughts. Lately I've been pondering something about Rand's character itself. As is well-known, Rand was an advocate of individualism and rational egoism, a way of living that logically leads to the endorsement of capitalism, and she spent much of her life identifying the nature of statist ideas. It is her passionate opposition to statism that interests me.

Succinctly, could it be the case that the amount of passion she had for advocating right ideas and refuting bad ones is rooted in the fact that she lived in the Soviet Union, which was itself the result of evil philosophy? I'm not asking if this is what motivated her to address this specific issue; rather, I'm asking if her past experience is what made her so interested and intense in this regard.

In examining my own being during philosophic thinking, I've noticed the issues that are the most well-thought out and consistently entertained are the ones that I've suffered great consequence in the past. Constant themes on this blog are self-improvement and relationships, and I think I entertain those topics most frequently because I have grown up around people who have wasted their potential, inflicted suffering on themselves through idleness, eroded their relationships, lived on whim, and so on, all with the poison of a specific behavior or idea behind it. I've witnessed and experienced first hand what harsh results that way of living has brought, so I contemplate those topics and guide my actions accordingly in order to prevent myself from ever deserving such a fate. Though, of course, my goal isn't to merely avoid suffering; I work on these issues most because my part experience makes their importance very real and serious to me.

Beyond Rand and I, could dominant themes affect all humans in this way, making them most concerned in the realms where they've had the strongest experiences (though not that necessarily involving pain)? I haven't dealt with enough people intimately to even come up with a guess, but it's an interesting question.