Hillbilly Elegy

cut me off. I honked, the guy flipped me
off, and when we stopped at a red light
(with this guy in front of me), I
unbuckled my seat belt and opened the
car door. I planned to demand an
apology (and fight the guy if necessary),
but my common sense prevailed and I
shut the door before I got out of the car.
Usha was delighted that I’d changed my
mind before she yelled at me to stop
acting like a lunatic (which has
happened in the past), and she told me
that she was proud of me for resisting
my natural instinct. The other driver’s
sin was to insult my honor, and it was on
that honor that nearly every element of
my happiness depended as a child—it