I will not go back to Kentucky but for funerals. It is a barren, godess-forsaken desolate black hole where all who enter risk being lost forever. Even those who try to escape seldom do. They end up living with their brothers and sisters in the homes of their parents or grandparents, sometimes as a high school drop-out, 17 with kids and no spouse; sometimes as a college drop-out, working two menial jobs with no real future. Sometimes, they end up on welfare, mooching from hard working taxpayers, pretending to be too injured to work or pay child support. To have a future, you have to get out. And that's hard to do. If you get out and you willingly return, there is often very little hope for you. To those who manage an escape, as I did, I raise my glass to you. To those who choose that way of life, I pity you.
Choice is a blade. Informed choice is a twist of the blade. The knowledge that one would choose to condemn themselves to no life, is a slow and painful death. My sorrow drowns me. Day breaks and it's still true. The last 15 years have been a wasted effort. Wasted energy. Wasted words. Wasted teaching. Wasted pain. Wasted time. Wasted tears. Oh, that I could just close my eyes and waste away...
