Hillbilly Elegy

JD Vance had a really hard childhood. Being poor wasn't what was hard but rather what the poverty and its extended circumstances seemed to do to his family. His mother became drug-addicted when he was 8. His biological father was out of the picture early and his mom had a different boyfriend every year. Luckily, JD had loving grandparents and a caring older sister, and he joined the marines at 18. That combination seemed to save him from a miserable adult life.

This book was really easy to read in spite of how sad it is. My dad came from these hillbilly people but his family was not like this one. No drug addiction, cruelty, or neglect. But he had a large family who had enough money to live and pride about who they were. JD seems to think attending church would help communities like his but my dad's family never went and they were ok. However, they had what JD thinks church provides: good values, a sense of service and obligation to the family and community, and the knowledge one belongs.

Vance does not think government programs (welfare) are doing any good. I don't have any answers myself. It would be nice if there were more living wage jobs throughout the country. It would be nice if corporations that did business in the US had some obligation to their workers. Hard to see that happening. It's easy to see JD Vance running for public office, and I hope he holds on to his roots. It might help.

Zen Monastery Peace Center

I spent the last week of April at a monastery 2 hours east of Oakland, CA. The monastery is on 300 acres of land at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountain range.. where the California gold rush happened in the 19th century.

The retreat was mostly silent. We don't interact at all with other people on the retreat but there are lead group discussions so we do talk occasionally. There are no distractions -- no phone, no books, no internet, no screens, no music. I read the monastery guide book several times just to have something to do. I walked a lot. No distractions is a completely different life experience. Everything slows down. The brain gets louder at first then it slows down too.

It's such a unique experience to live in silence and to not have to be a personality. It was great. I hope to return every year.