Personal Essay: My Life In West Virginia

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My life in West Virginia has done much in shaping my personal development. It’s easy to be taken about by West Virginia’s natural beauty and welcoming small towns. One might picture an idyllic life with mountains and fields to roam, streams to fish in or sit quietly by, a life of peaceful tranquility. West Virginia, however, is a land of contradiction. While it does abound in natural beauty and abundant resources, the reality for people who live here is quite a different actuality. Poverty, drug abuse, and growing crime are a malignancy eating away at the heart and soul of West Virginia. Ranked the third poorest state in the nation, the scars of poverty are seen as closed businesses, dilapidated homes, and rampant unemployment. Having the

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