Rags-to-
5 Responses to “Rags-to-
Rags-to-RichesSomething
Posted by Joshua Claybourn on 15 February 2008 | 5 responses
Can you build a life from $25? Adam Shepard tried and, without relying in any way on family or connections, he managed to obtain a furnished apartment, a car, and $5,000 in savings within a year. “I truly believe, based on what I saw at the shelter …that anyone can do that.”
5 Responses to “Rags-to-RichesSomething”
I would very much like to see how the fella in the wheelchair in his story is doing. That story might inspiring. Shepards’ is rather patronzing.
Further, I’d like to see how Shepard would have done had he had two preschool-age kids to take care of. That would have been a real challenge
Under the circumstances, I would have been shocked if he DIDN’T succeed, and so would almost anyone. Adam Shepard is exactly the kind of American for whome the American dream works perfectly — a healthy man, without responsibilities, debt, or family ties.
Our modern society is a cakewalk for people like him, relative to what it is for anyone with real responsibilities who wants to build a stable, sustainable life with a family.
That’s not to say I don’t agree with his underlying determination and refusal to give up. It’s just that I don’t think he faced any real challenges.
Oh, except when he actually did hear family/responsibility calling, 10 months into his 1-year project. Then what did he do? Why, he quit, of course. How inspiring.
Heh, $25 will get you further in life than it will in Second Life.
Maybe I’m not reading the story carefully but it seems that he had food stamps, which libertarians oppose, and also a shelter. These matters alonge can make a huge difference to getting a new start.
It is proof that some can rise above poverty with little outside resources but this guy had a college education and likely a common sense upbringing by his parents, along with familiarity of how to keep a check book and how to use information resources. These are things not avialable to most who seek to escape poverty. Many of the latter are also trying to raise kids, escape violent neighborhood connections, have mental illness, lower IQ’s or a habit of drug use.
To me it proves that people can often do more than they think if they have a positive attitude and commitment. However, this young man’s past connections, absent for many, seemed to have played a large role in getting ahead.
Many in poverty cannot fill out the simplest of applications or have arrest records that shut them out of many jobs. Many also have poor communication skills.
There’s no question that, armed only with “common sense” and lacking mental illness and drug abuse, Shepard had an advantage over many of those who live in poverty. However, I think his experience also shows that many of those in poverty cripple themselves by simply giving up, or failing to sacrifice short-term enjoyment in order to improve their long-term situation.
People who are living in poverty need help that is geared toward showing them how to improve their situation. The last thing they need is other people making excuses for them for why they can’t get out of poverty.
There’s a virulent mental disease wreaking havoc on the social fabric of this country, and it’s called “I deserve.” It afflicts all economic strata, causing poor people to remain in poverty while they squander what money they do earn on expensive sneakers, electronic toys, etc., and the middle-class to go into debt to have that bigger house with a two-car garage with an SUV and a BMW, etc.
Eric,
I completely agree. It is one reason that a one-size-fits-all approach is really bad. Further, there is a big difference between empathizing with someone that they have greater obstacles to overcome and allowing them to use their limitations or life circumstances as an excuse for everything, including the failure to try. Reading programs are available for adults and there are many places to get help in improving jobs skills. I am less optimistic about what we provide for the homeless with substantial mental illness. When I lived in Washington, D.C., programs for the homeless were often beset by bitter divisions between those who wanted a cooperative approach to providing help and those who wanted to provide everything and ask nothing. It may seem cynical, but I’m convinced some “advocates” didn’t want the homeless numbers to go down because they saw it as interfering with their lobbying efforts for funds. How sad to keep people down while claiming to advocate for solutions. There is a great concern for making things look too easy but also a big danger of embracing “cheap grace.”