Forgetting the forgotten no more

 

Today evoked an unexpected emotional experience for me as we pumped concrete for a bus driver, who happens to also be the Principal at his school.  By the way, his wife also drives a school bus on a different route, and she is the Science teacher at another rural school.  

I wonder why we never hear about servant-hearted people like this on CNN or Fox News?  After all, who would care about a family of educators in rural Southeast Kentucky, instead, the region is most likely thought of as the armpit of America by the TV elites, and simply forgotten about by most of us.  After today though, it will be a long time before I forget about this forgotten region again.  

To get to Lynch Kentucky, we crossed Black Mountain, at just over 4000 feet above sea level, it's the highest point in the state.  The deep forests and towering mountains enshrine the region like a fortress, keeping outsiders out, and insiders in.  The terrain was beyond rugged.  My picture of the sunrise does not do proper justice to the majestic beauty of the area.  The drive up and over the mountain was hair-raising at times.  Razor sharp switchbacks, sheer cliffs and straight drop-offs, the road was nothing short of the stuff legends are made of.  

The road going into Harlan County is so curvy, and the terrain so steep, it takes about a half an hour to go ten miles.  The rugged landscape is breathtaking, it's truly awe inspiring.  

I suppose today evoked so many emotions for me, not simply because I read Hillbilly Elegy, or before that, Night Comes to the Cumberlands, but because my family actually comes from this impoverished region.  My dad left Southeast Kentucky back in the early 60's with the largest migration of Americans in US history as many folks from the Appalachian area moved to the Great Lakes in hopes of escaping their bitter existence, looking for a better life.  I'm not sure if I'm supposed to feel gratitude or guilt about this.  

So today, I witnessed Lynch KY, a weary and worn-down town, buried and hidden within a wonderful wilderness.  Forgotten by most of America, forsaken and abandoned by the rest.  The lure of steady income from the coal giants having dried up mostly, it's only a shell of what it was 100 years ago.  Harlan County is ripe with rare beauty, a place resting in times gone by, quiet and tranquil.  Sadly, with no industry or any chance of a future for this or the next generation, it seems like intergenerational-welfare is the only hope for most of the folks around.   

The juxtaposition of the amazing views, the splendor of one of the most beautiful places on earth, the towering mountains capped with rich forests all being witnessed in real-time, contrasted to the hopelessness stemming from such extreme poverty and the bleak future for the folks there was deeply moving.  I left asking myself, what are the invisible chains shackling the people there?  Is it simply "acceptance" at their plight?  Are they victims of their circumstances?  What can be done to reinvigorate the region?  Clearly, coal wasn't the only precious resource extracted from there, something intangible has been taken as well.  Also, though, from the people I met today, I see there are people who stick around these dying towns not because they are stuck, they stay because they can make a difference, and they care. 

If you've never heard this song, you need to click on this link below :

You'll never leave Harlan Alive