Last weekend, ABC network aired a 20/20 special entitled: "Children of the mountains." Filmed in rural Kentucky, the show chronicled families and their struggles in modern day Appalachian towns. It told the stories of several children growing up in dysfunctional families, and who are trying to make a future for themselves. Set amidst the background of poverty and despair, their stories are true and gritty. They're the kind of stories that are echoed all around me in McDowell County, W.V.
In some instances, films or books or documentaries on Appalachian border on extremism (i.e. "let's find the dirtiest, grubbiest, bare-footed kids or the crazy man on the road or the snake handling church and then we'll take their pictures and talk about how poor and dysfunctional people there are" etc.). But I kinda feel like this show differed from that. Taking the vantage point of a child or teen, they show the effects of poverty, as well as its causes. It emphasis the beauty and hurt that engulfs the region of our nation. It's worth checking out if you've ever wondered about what it might look or feel like to live in the heart of rural Appalachia. Here's the link to the written story, and there's a full length video of the entire 1 hour program accessible on this site as well.
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Story?id=6865077&page=1
"Justice and Power must be brought together, so that whatever is just may be powerful, and whatever is powerful may be just." Blaise Pascal
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