I first read Lauren Hough’s brilliant – and depressingly hilarious – essay, “I Was A Cable Guy. I Saw The Worst Of America” sometime shortly after it came out (on huffpost.com) sometime around the end of 2018.

I recently ran across it a week or so ago and re-read it.

Still smart, sad, funny and oh-so-true.

There’s much to like – and Hough writes so well. Please click on the link and enjoy (it’s kind of a long read for the web; just a head’s up.).

This second reading – a couple of years following the first – struck me a little differently; I had already read the many bizarre and funny anecdotes, so I focused a little more on the actual life experiences of the author in a way that I hadn’t the first time.

This excerpt in particular struck a chord:

That’s the thing they don’t tell you about opiate addiction. People are in pain because unless you went to college, the only way you’ll earn a decent living is by breaking your body or risking your life — plumbers, electricians, steamfitters, welders, mechanics, cable guys, linemen, fishermen, garbagemen, the options are endless.

They’re all considered jobs for men because they require a certain amount of strength. The bigger the risk, the bigger the paycheck. But you don’t get to take it easy when your back hurts from carrying a 90-pound ladder that becomes a sail in the wind. You don’t get to sit at a desk when your knees or ankles start to give out after crawling through attics, under desks, through crawl spaces.

And that’s why so many blue collar workers become pain-medication addicts. They almost – almost – need to. (Note: the author was/is not an addict; she did weed, but that’s about it.)

White collar workers, on the other hand, become cokeheads because, well, they can.

Big difference.

Again, great essay, and for the most part really funny.

And a good picture of our not-so-united states of America.