Diane Sawyer - Appalachian Special

[Pam]

You have to try and put yourself into their mindset. I am sure depression plays a tremendous role. Many of the people that live high in the mountains do not have access to many of the things that you comment on. They have no cars to even get to a job. Remember the woman who had to walk 8 miles each day (one direction)? I am sure many of those kids have no access to a lot of what you are mentioning. Did you hear one of them say that they can't even remember ever having a book in their home when they were growing up? Libraries and internet are not available when you are that rural. Some do not even have electricity. Yes, it is a cycle for sure but I find myself having more pity for these people than I do for the inner city poor. They have the same despair and depression and collect the same welfare, but are within walking distance of places where they can get help.

[Medusa]

I could barely sit through the segment, it was so painful to watch. IMO, what most people in Appalachia are lacking is hope. When you lose hope, you give up. Even if they say that they haven't given up, it's clear that many have.

It's easy for us to say "Go to the library" while we sit here in the comfort of our warm homes typing out insensitive words on our computer keyboard but if you haven't had a place to lay your head and you're cold and sore and bones are aching from lack of sleep and peace of mind, and then you have to walk 8 miles one way to get a GED, it takes a strong mindset and will to plod through.

My father was raised in poverty, not in Appalachia, but poverty nonetheless. He was a coal miner who, in his time, was paid by the ton, ie., how much coal he mined determined his pay check. Plus he worked w/explosives and many days worked in waist high water. He got caught in a cave-in once and had second degree burns on his back but he went back to work immediately after being treated. He didn't pack a lunch; he worked through his lunch hour so that he could mine an extra ton of coal to bring home more money. We didn't have a car then, so he rode the bus to and from work and from our apartment window I would watch him get off the bus and drag himself home, too tired to remove his helmet, face black w/coal dust and weary from working underground all day. He'd run his bath water and fall asleep in the tub every day, then go to bed, wake up at 2:00 AM and have a big breakfast, which was sometimes last night's dinner, then get on the bus that morning and do it all over again. He never gave up and only retired because the mine that he worked in closed and he would've had to work out of state and at age 62, decided against that. He retired w/benefits and black lung disease. We were never wealthy, to be sure, and we were broke more often than not, but we were never poor. Being broke is a condition; being poor is a state of mind.

[Daisy and Delilah]

I'm so glad some of you saw it. Pam, you're right on the money with what you're saying. I will tell some of my story and it might make some of it clearer.

I had just married my husband(1st). He was from a small town in southwestern Virginia. We moved there because my husband wanted to. At the time, I was very young and pretty spoiled, growing up in Florida. My Mom couldn't give us alot but she did her best. We ended up living with my husband's family. His Dad was a coal miner, they had 16 children and most of them lived in the same house. Outside toilet, no running water, hence, no hot water. They heated the house with a coal and wood stove that basically heated the room it was in. We were lucky if any heat made it to other areas at all. Good luck if you're trying to sleep and it's -0- degrees outside.

My FIL owed his soul to the company store--he still did when he died of black lung after 39 years in the mines. They lived on beans, taters, and, bread. No meat, and, veggies that were home grown and canned.

Those people rarely left the 5 mile radius of their homes. Being raised by their ancestors that are all uneducated, no one knows what the wrong and right ways are for almost everything. They know what they've been taught and that's it. If someone comes along and tries to change them, it's usually futile because they're basically too frightened to try anything new. Kids drop out of school as soon as it's legal and the parent's let them. After all, they may need them for something around the house, garden, etc.

They are good, God fearing people but they are very unapproachable. It took forever for them to even speak to me.

That was back in the mid 70's. I was shocked at how these people live. I called it uncivilized. They are all terrified to leave their families. If they're family members aren't all moving away for a better life, it's much easier for them to stay together and live this way.

As far as the Diane Sawyer special. I'm sure she depicted some areas accurately but not all the Appalachians are like that. I saw the local doctor(one doctor)give out alot of meds, non narcotic,(at that time) to alot of people because they were so unhealthy and complaining of multiple ailments. Believe it or not, these people are so simple and sometimes so bored, their illnessess, large or small, are the only things they have to talk about. They become obsessed with that and believe that taking meds is the way life should be. Alot of them drink soda but not all of them are force feeding their children Mountain Dew. The incest is another thing. I didn't personally see it but I think it's probably there.

One of the ladies had tattoos. I didn't ever see a tattoo there. everyone smokes because it seems the way to live because everybody does it. If you never hear how bad it is, how do you know, or care?

This is just a small piece of it. I think alot of us can't understand that people can actually be like this. This is why these people need to be exposed and helped asap. It won't be easy to get them to accept the help because they're extremely proud people.

If anyone wants to learn alot more about it, go to the ABC website and read the comments. Very interesting reading there. There are hundreds of people willing to help Shawn Grim--the boy that dropped out of school.
I personally believe that Shawn could have gotten help to stay there but he was too scared to continue. He had lost confidence again. He was the high school hero but college life was just too much. He knew his family would give him a comfortable feeling by coming home.
I read that he's making $60K a year in the coal mines now. $60K is not nearly enough to pay those people for what they do. Some say that that's not living in poverty. After hearing some of the stories I've heard about going in the mines, I think people would agree that $60K can't touch the humility, danger, and fear the mines have to offer.

I should also say that: I really believe that prescription pain killers are given out and used by many many people there now. The areas are perfect for introducing something like that and everybody wanting to get in on it. That's the way they are. The documentary made it appear that they are all living on pills and starving their children. Not the case. They love their children. Most of them are probably charging the food for the kids, getting food stamps, government give aways, eating at relatives homes. They also have alot of store keepers that will exchange cash for food stamps. Most of them live on medicaid so they get the original rx's free. Everybody knows everybody and there could be barter exchanges going on for those large quantites of pills. It's a life that most of us can't imagine.

[pomtzu]

Mary & Terry - that's pretty heavy stuff!!!
All to often we take for granted and complain about our lives, and what we don't have - and then to see the way life is just a few hundred miles from here! I just can't even imaging the strife that they live every day.
I didn't see the whole show when it was on (sleep takes over again), but I'll watch the video available from ABC a little later.

[Pam]

Medusa and Terry thank you for your stories. I hope they, and the documentary, have shed some light and I hope that those who are in positions to do something will act, and soon. I remember a few years ago going on vacation to the Skyline Drive in Virginia. We passed through West Virginia and saw much poverty along the way. You could actually see daylight through a few of the houses. We stopped at a Mc Donald's and a man sat there eating crackers that were given to him for free, along with little packets of ketchup that are given out with hamburgers that he carefully spread over the crackers. From his conversation with the workers you could tell that he was a "regular" and this was an example of how he was able to eat. I was fascinated with how people could exist with so little. A few years ago I also caught another documentary on life in Appalachia and it centered around one family. I believe it was on PBS although I could be wrong but it was excellent and I can still remember the family vividly in my mind. They were good people, just not able to rise above the circumstances of their birth.

I found a writer (Sharyn McCrumb) a few years ago who writes about life in Appalachia. She lives and writes in the Blue Ridge mountains less than 100 miles from where her family settled in 1790 in the Smoky Mountains. The first book I read by her was The Rosewood Casket and I think I have read all of her books by now. Her books, though fiction, will take you to a place that you have never gone and you will be hooked from the start (at least I was).

[Alysser]

I honestly had no idea people still lived like that, it's sickening, especially in "America". I watched and I was speechless, at the end when they said that boy gave up on college I was really sad, he was really trying to make a life for himself. I am glad though that the Girl named Angel got her GED and I'm glad these people are trying at least...

It makes me really want to help, I'm glad I'm young and I can possibly help some of these people in the future. I hope this documentary really raises awareness and more people try and help! My cousin goes there every summer for 2 weeks with a volunteer organization to help out down there, it's good they are getting more help The guy who made a mobile dentist made me happier. Incest, drugs, hunger, etc are really bad problems up there but I hope to god that they can solve it. I cannot believe people live in such poverty it makes me so sad. Maybe now they will start getting the help they needed.

The guy in the coal mines made me really sad to, he was only 19 years old!! They might make a "good" salary but they die very young I'm sure That show was pretty powerful, I'm sure it moved many people and I hope it is going to be the start of a change for Appalachia.

[Pam]

Diane Sawyer said today that tomorrow morning on GMA they will have an update on this show reflecting the outpouring of interest that everyone had after viewing. I hope I remember to watch. Better tie a string around my finger.

[Daisy and Delilah]

Thanks Pam!! I'll get a reminder post it on the tv now. There was a huge response to it and alot of the comments were directed at Diane herself. I know she was hurt by many of the remarks.