What is Appalachian pride?

Is it my aunt
500 lbs. and bed ridden?
Is it my teen cousin
orphaned by meth addiction?
Is it my best friend
curbing mental potential with Ritalin?
Is it my little sister
20 years old without her mother figure?

Facetious?
Not in the least.
This is not culture—
This is disease.

Faulty education
drives macronarratives
of our Commonwealth
when the individual
must come to recognize
this is not in good health.