A most profound opinion by NYTimes columnist Nicholas Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn

Who Killed the Knapp Family?

Across America, working-class people — including many of our friends — are dying of despair. And we’re still blaming the wrong people.

By Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn

Mr. Kristof and Ms. WuDunn are the authors of “Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope,” from which this essay is adapted.

• Jan. 9, 2020
  
  YAMHILL, Ore. — Chaos reigned daily on the No. 6 school bus, with working-class boys and girls flirting and gossiping and dreaming, brimming with mischief, bravado and optimism. Nick rode it every day in the 1970s with neighbors here in rural Oregon, neighbors like Farlan, Zealan, Rogena, Nathan and Keylan Knapp.
  
  They were bright, rambunctious, upwardly mobile youngsters whose father had a good job installing pipes. The Knapps were thrilled to have just bought their own home, and everyone oohed and aahed when Farlan received a Ford Mustang for his 16th birthday.
  
  Yet today about one-quarter of the children on that No. 6 bus are dead, mostly from drugs, suicide, alcohol or reckless accidents. Of the five Knapp kids who had once been so cheery, Farlan died of liver failure from drink and drugs, Zealan burned to death in a house fire while passed out drunk, Rogena died from hepatitis linked to drug use and Nathan blew himself up cooking meth. Keylan survived partly because he spent 13 years in a state penitentiary.
  
  Continued on NYTimes.com
  
  I encourage everyone who reads the beginning of this opinion column to read the rest of it. I'd love to see the authors awarded a Pulitzer for this.
  
  Tightrope: Americans Reaching for Hope will be published January 14, 2020