Humanity has fractured society, and I am to blame. My benevolent nature and I have had a falling out. This is what happens when the hands of neglect fail to nurture a relationship. Society is not an object I can point to in someone else’s yard. I am society, and I have doom-scrolled my way into a state of detachment as skepticism dampens my desire for connection.

My small, Kansas hometown did not raise me this way. Caring examples of the community surrounded my childhood. Once upon a time, my hometown and I knew kindness. I wonder if trusting times are now too far beyond my reach. I can feel the answer to my midlife crisis watching me from behind the details of good and bad, hidden within the neglected shrubbery scattered along Memory Lane.

About the Author

Tammy Hader possesses no official academic writer’s pedigree. With a BBA in accounting from Wichita State University, her history resides in numbers. After a 30-year accounting career, Tammy reinvented herself as a writer in 2018. She is an essay writer at Medium, BizCatalyst360, and WebMD. Tammy is an editor for the Medium publication Journal of Journeys and a contributing author in the Daily Gift Book Series. When not writing, she enjoys caring for her mom, cooking for her family, and serving her two rescue kitties with the royal attention they deserve.