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Silas House’s essay in The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic. com/ideas/archive/2021/08/some-americans-no-longer-believein-the-common-good/619856/) perfectly voiced my own sense of melancholy this morning, as I mourned the death of yet another Hemphill County citizen whom I have long admired, and whose ability to maintain her equilibrium and dignity, even in times of great turmoil, I have hoped to emulate. I’ve been searching for some time now for the words to express the sense of emotional distance from my hometown that has enveloped me, and this inescapable feeling of disappointment and despair in who we seem to have become—not only as a community, or as a state, but as a nation. House echoed at least some of what I have felt, harkening back to a generation that we are slowly losing, or have perhaps already lost, of citizens who still believed in the common good, and who were willing to sacrifice what little they had for that now-elusive concept. It must have struck a nerve with my friend and fellow journalist Al Cross, as well, because just a couple of hours after reading House’s words, Al summarized them in a piece in the online Rural Blog (irjci.blogspot. com). I share it here, too weary to write more. — LEB
