Open Letter to JD Vance

Gerrman Oddities ^ | 25 October 2024 | Between Chairs

[Rummyfan]

There are a few things I always wanted to say to him

Dear JD —

In 2016 I picked up a book. I do not know who recommended it or if I learned about it from a podcast. It was your book “Hillbilly Elegy”. It made me cry. So much of the story reminded me of my own upbringing even though my parents were married and no-one in my family was a drug addict. Yet, we were poor and for the first year of my existence we were on well fare. My father and mother both worked two jobs to advance us to the middle class. Which we eventually did in my late teens.

I have to note that I am not from here. Not from the US. I lived for 24 years in Germany. Then moved to South Africa for my master degree at the University of Cape Town — Chemical Engineering. And eventually ended up in the United States. I was able to travel the world and have worked in countries like South Korea, Brazil, Italy, Spain, France and the UK.

All of this enabled by an ambition that wanted me to escape my childhood and not end up where I grew up. The family dynamics that made it hard and easy to leave my home town are very telling. Anyone who went to university was arrogant and out of touch with reality. According to my family. Everyone consumed too much alcohol and smoked too much. People will be in shock to learn how many of my peers died through drunk driving, suicide, or by drugs. For several years after high school me and my friends attended a funeral annually, sometimes multiple. It was normal. I only learned years later in my 30s that it was just not….

[Notthereyet]

An excellent read.