Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream by Adam Shepard.

I’m going to buy a copy of this book for a young man I know, who in addition to making what I consider very foolish decisions about his spiritual life, is also stuck in a dead end job and not at all sure how to move on and begin doing more than living from paycheck to paycheck. My friend wants to go back to college, but he can barely afford to pay the rent and his car payment each month. He feels trapped. The book won’t change his spiritual condition, but it might inspire him to change his economic and physical status.

Adam Shepard started out lower on the economic scale than my friend is now. He decided, after graduating from college, to try an experiment. He would take twenty-five dollars, a sleeping bag, and the clothes on his back, and go to a randomly chosen city to start life with no friends, no credit rating, and no safety net. He chose Charleston, South Carolina out of a hat and took the train to that fair city. Once he got there, he headed for the nearest homeless shelter (which didn’t turn out to be too nearby). His goal was, by the end of a year, to have a car, a furnished apartment, and $2500 in the bank.

The book would be an inspiration particularly to young people just starting out in life and perhaps to those who are working to bring themselves up out of poverty after bad decisions or bad luck or some combination thereof have put them there. I want to give a copy to my friend because he’s discouraged about his future, and I want him to see what hard work and determination can do. The book is just one guy’s experience. The details of where Mr. Shepard got a job and what he did to save money and to make ends meet won’t work for everyone. But the general principles of working as hard as you can, overcoming setbacks with persistence, and making the most of the opportunities you have are good for anyone, anywhere.

Did Mr Shepard meet his goals? Yes, and he did it in ten months, not twelve. He did it with very little help from the government (food stamps) and with a great deal of self-discipline and stubborn resolve. The language in the book is sometimes crude, the language of the streets where Mr. Shepard found himself, but the message is worth the skimming over language I had to do. I think you’ll find it worthwhile, too.

The Headmistress at The Common Room compares Scratch Beginnings with Nickled and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich.