Hillbilly Elegy

per shift. We talk about the value of hard
work but tell ourselves that the reason
we’re not working is some perceived
unfairness: Obama shut down the coal
mines, or all the jobs went to the
Chinese. These are the lies we tell
ourselves to solve the cognitive
dissonance—the broken connection
between the world we see and the
values we preach.
We talk to our children about
responsibility, but we never walk the
walk. It’s like this: For years I’d
dreamed of owning a German shepherd
puppy. Somehow Mom found me one.
But he was our fourth dog, and I had no
clue how to train him. Within a few