Mudita Journal

Now you’ve heard of Adam Shepard

February 2, 2009 · Filed under: Current Events, Individualism, Politics
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I enjoyed reading Charles Platt’s expose of what it’s really like to work at Wal-Mart — lack of unions and all.

At the end comes this gem:

If you haven’t heard of Adam Shepard … His remarkable book Scratch Beginnings, now being promoted through scratchbeginnings.com, describes how he went through an experience far more gruelling than my brief flirtation with low-paying work.

He placed himself in a homeless shelter with $25 in his pocket, found a job as a day laborer, then worked for a moving company, and after 10 months had a pickup truck, an apartment, and $2,500 in savings.

His conclusion: People can still make it in the United States if they are willing to live carefully on a budget and work hard.

Somehow that kind of news is never as popular as denunciations of the free market written by professional handwringers …

Indeed.

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