A Bleak Life

The Federalist article by Ben Domenech, cited in the previous post, contains a moving description of the lives of many high school dropouts or graduates who went no further in school.

You are one of the millions of middle-aged unemployed white Americans with a high school degree. Having moved from unemployment benefits to disability, you receive sufficient benefits to subsist – around 1,200 dollars a month on average – and to pay for the alcohol and drugs that help you self-medicate, in addition to what your doctor has prescribed. Your life is essentially one marked by hopelessness. You are statistically unlikely to ever re-enter the workforce.

For all too many Americans in this segment of the population, the things that make life not only endurable but happy are faith, now lost to us; family, which is fractured; community, which is disintegrated; and work, which most find hard to come by. The TV screen flickers with images of people living lives you could never hope to emulate. Your situation is bleak, and while our soma is better, it is still not a replacement for the pursuit of happiness.

N.B., Soma = happy juice, mood altering drugs. No wonder suicide is a problem in this group. Hat tip to RealClearPolitics for the link.