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Here's my 2 cents' worth.
I don't think it's a foolish question at all. On the face of it, if light is a particle, why shouldn't it need to be set off in motion by some force like any other particle?
I think the real answer is to see that this is actually a specific version of a very general question: what is really going on with phenomenon X?
As I think I've observed in other threads, while this is a reasonable question to ask of physics, it's a question that physics gave up on trying to answer along time ago. The best physics can do is come up with equations that well describe observable quantities.
Particularly since the advent of quantum mechanics and relativity (both involved in the question asked), the underlying processes are so removed from our day-to-day reality, that a 'sensible' explanation corresponding to our day-to-day reality seems a hopeless task.
So, I think the answer to the question posed is not much more than this. Light just travels at the speed of light, with nothing 'starting it off' - that's just how light is, and if it doesn't make sense then it doesn't make sense.
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