By Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin
PIKESVILLE, Maryland — Hillbilly Elegy is a book by J. D. Vance that was published eight years before former President Trump chose him as his presumptive Vice President. The team “elegy” describes a poem of serious reflection, typically for the dead. Regarding hillbillies, it denotes a culture where its people are near death and, in a certain sense, already dead, certainly not fully alive. People should read it and be encouraged to help produce changes.
The book is an eye-opening expose of the life of hillbillies seen by a young man who was able to escape it. The man, J. D. Vance, grew up with an alcoholic and drug-using mother who gave him a series of different fathers. He could only escape the near death of his culture with the help of a teacher and Usha Chilukuri, the woman he loved and married. The two brought forward his desire to succeed and help others do what he learned to do. We also need to do what these two women did for Vance to the many other disadvantaged people in this world.
Vance is an excellent writer. He describes the life of hillbillies, a life he led. It is a life filled with homes with many guns, cursing, dysfunctional families, divorces, lack of sufficient guidance, drinking, drugs, lack of education, pessimism, disrespect of others, rage, poverty, starvation, abuse, frequent problems with the police, single-parent homes — in his case raised by an aged gun-toting grandmother. This was a life where the government’s well-meaning desire to help using welfare payments worsened the situation because the recipients preferred the payments over the “foolishness of working.” Also, the welfare program encouraged many recipients to abuse the system to obtain more alcohol and drugs cleverly.
Before the help of his college teacher and his future wife Usha (a San Diegan of Indian descent), Vance learned about life outside of his culture during his four years in the US Marines. Immediately after that, he entered college undaunted by being older than other students because of his time in the Marines. He finished the four-year college in less than two years with praise from one of his teachers who helped him. He then went to law school at one of the top US law schools, Yale, where he met another student, fell in love, and married. At Yale, he became the editor of the Law Review.
One of the many things we can learn from Vance’s experience and use it to help not only hillbillies but all disadvantaged cultures. We can institute a universal draft. All males and females from age 18 must either join one of the military services for at least two years or a new, somewhat similar service that helps improve the lives of US citizens. Israel has such a system.
Vance learned many lessons in the Marines. He lost dozens of pounds that had made him overweight in his early life because of eating sugar and the wrong foods. He learned simple tasks that wealthy children learn at home, which he was denied. He developed skills. He discovered he could run farther than a single street, even miles. His health improved. His mind grew. During his four years, he ultimately became the liaison between the Marines and politicians.
A universal draft would remove people from poverty, allow them to learn about life, gain self-respect, improve their reading and writing skills and ability to speak logically, learn a trade, respect others, love this country, be productive, and help better our country.
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Rabbi Dr. Israel Drazin is a retired brigadier general in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps and the author of more than 50 books.