Hillbilly Elegy

just wanted to scream. But I have to give
it to them: Their children are happier
and healthier, their divorce rates lower,
their church attendance higher, their
lives longer. These people are beating us
at our own damned game.
I was able to escape the worst of my
culture’s inheritance. And uneasy though
I am about my new life, I cannot whine
about it: The life I lead now was the
stuff of fantasy during my childhood. So
many people helped create that fantasy.
At every level of my life and in every
environment, I have found family and
mentors and lifelong friends who
supported and enabled me.
But I often wonder: Where would I